| FROM THE EDITORS 04.07.08 5:31 PM |
Looking at Diffa’s Trove of Tabletop Design Ideas
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A cardboard and plywood dining room designed by Pratt students
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Each year when the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS Dining by Design benefit hits New York—recruiting designers to dream up elaborate tabletop looks—we record the myriad inspirational ideas the event offers. This year was no exception, and our style editors were on the prowl last week, spotting new place setting concepts, identifying color trends, and (lucky you) highlighting the event’s 10 most steal-able ideas. You can find an archive of our coverage of the event here.
RELATED TOPICS Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design |
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| THE SCOUT 04.04.08 10:15 AM |
| Diffa’s 10 Most-Steal-Able Ideas <!– –> |
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Kravet Inc.’s collection of inspirational items
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Designers at Diffa’s Dining by Design showcase always offers a multitude of concepts to adapt to other events. This year’s most-likely-to-reappear concepts included patterned seat cushions, veggies as centerpiece fodder, and napkin rings made from colored paper swatches. Here’s a list of ideas that made an impression. READ MORE
RELATED TOPICS Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Domino, Pratt Institute, Parsons the New School for Design, James Coviello, Michael Tavano, New York Design Center, Architectural Digest, Vicente Wolf, The New York Times |
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| TREND SPOTTED 04.04.08 9:45 AM |
| Diffa’s Color Trend: Yellow <!– –> |
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A rich goldenrod-colored linen covered Ralph Lauren Home’s table.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Perhaps as a nod to spring, many designers at Diffa’s Dining by Design event incorporated yellow accents into their tables this year, with shades of the color popping up as table linens, vases, statuary, and flowers. Here’s a look at an array of the warm settings. READ MORE
RELATED TOPICS Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Gourmet, J.C. Penney, Ralph Lauren Home, Michael Tavano |
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| THE SCOUT 04.02.08 4:20 PM |
| Diffa’s Place Settings That Popped <!– –> |
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Kravet Inc. used Lucite-topped books as place settings.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Books, picnic baskets, film reels, logs, and fabric encased in plexiglass were among the unusual props and decorative devices that topped tables at Diffa’s Dining by Design event at Skylight. Here’s a look at some of the most striking settings. —Lisa Cericola & Mark Mavrigian
RELATED TOPICS Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Allsteel, Apherea, Fashion Institute of Technology, HOK, Kravet Inc., The New York Times |
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| EVENT REPORT 04.02.08 3:44 PM |
Diffa Showcases Big Tabletop Designs in Smaller Venue
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David Stark’s dining environment for Benjamin Moore was made mostly out of paint swatches and paper.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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This year, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’s annual Dining by Design fund-raiser moved from its most recent home at the Waterfront to the downtown venue Skylight. The new location had a strong impact on the experience of walking through the showcase, which recruits a slate of designers and sponsors to build imaginative dining environments.
Compared with the Waterfront, with its exposed brick and steel beams (and the benefit’s previous homes at the Hammerstein Ballroom and Roseland) Skylight’s big white box provided a brighter, less distracting background for the designers’ intensely layered creations. And the new site’s smaller size necessitated a tighter collection of tables (cut down from more than 50 to 39) that made for a more focused—and more easily navigable—forum for locating trends and gathering ideas.
“It’s always a challenge to find a venue here, and for us, [Skylight is] a very user-friendly venue, with two load-in points—plus it’s a blank canvas for us; it’s a gallery,” said Diffa’s special events manager, Steven Williams. “It’s a little more exclusive because it’s smaller, and we have more sponsors this year.”
So, speaking of trends and ideas, how did the designers fill the new location? READ MORE
RELATED TOPICS Diffa, Diffa Dining by Design, Architectural Digest, Benjamin Moore, Beringer, Domino, Gourmet, Hewlett-Packard, Kravet Inc., Nautica, New York Design Center, The New York Times, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Stolichnaya Elit, Vivienne Tam |
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