Asian Flavors

At Thursday's Orchid Dinner, the flower-filled fund-raiser the New York Botanical Garden hosts every year at the Rainbow Room, designers drew upon an old standby look, incorporating Asian elements into a large number of the 35 featured tables—with numerous decorative nods to China, perhaps playing up Chinese New Year, which began the day of the benefit.Far Eastern looks showed up in Campion Platt’s table filled with Chinese lanterns, folding fans, chopsticks, and Buddha statuettes. Barclay Butera chose to show off an enormous blue-and-white Chinese vase (packed with an abundant spray of orchids, of course). At the Baccarat table, a solemn crystal Buddha graced the centerpiece, which consisted of a towering display of green bamboo.

Of the many interesting tables, we noticed a number of other strong visual elements, including lanterns (some done in a Chinese fashion, as with the centerpiece at the Cooper, Robertson & Weatherly Interiors setting, others simply as elegant structures to mix with orchids). Many colors and species of the flower appeared not only among Asian-influenced settings but also set amid fabrics and accessories with interlocking patterns (elegantly done at Philip Gorrivan’s table for Highland Court, where table and chairs featured golden linear designs on white fabric, and also appearing in Campion Platt’s napkin rings of repeating silver rectangles).

Other trends in effect for the dinner were various interpretations based upon light fixtures, with Jamie Drake’s novel use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs as vessels for orchids (an explosion of flowers emerged from the bulbs set within a mossy base) and Stephen Miller Siegel Architects’ floor-lamp-as-centerpiece with a shade covered with blossoms.

Behind the scenes, the Garden's Jennifer Rominiecki, vice president for individual giving and special events, oversaw the benefit, and Carolyn Englefield, Veranda magazine's editor at large, served as decorations chair. The magazine cosponsored the dinner (replacing now-folded House & Garden), as did Tiffany & Company and the Bank of New York Mellon. Dan Dahl, formerly of Gotham Gardens and now part of the newly formed firm Bowman Dahl, once again served as design coordinator.

While the fund-raiser aids the Garden's orchid collections and research efforts (it raised more than $630,000), it also serves as a kickoff of sorts for the upcoming Orchid Show, which comes to the Bronx organization's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and its library's Orchid Rotunda on February 23.

We have more ideas and photos from the Orchid Dinner here.