All Photos By Gail

For this week’s Eye on Design, we are presenting a fabulous visual recap of the 20th annual Dining By Design event, sponsored by Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA).

Event Signage Outside Pier 92, Where the Event Takes Place

Held in tandem with the Architectural Digest Design Show, Dining By Design showcases imaginative, one-of-a-kind tabletop design in a series of dazzling dining installations by internationally renowned and local talent. Items in each dining tableau, as well as one-of-a-kind original artworks, are part of a silent auction fundraiser, in which everyone can participate. As DIFFA National’s largest fundraiser, Dining By Design raises nearly a million dollars annually, with proceeds going towards grants to organizations combating HIV/AIDS.

Please enjoy photos of a few of our favorite installations!

White Room by The New School at Parsons School of Design: Meal is constructed of found materials from each borough of New York City, allowing the projected materials costs to be donated back to HIV/AIDS activism. Unified in one color, the assemblage serves as an analogy for the many New Yorkers affected by HIV/AIDS. Built by a community to give back to a community.

White Room Detail

The New York Times Designed by Liaigre, with Douglas Little.

Pratt Interior Design: Movers and Shakers

M Moser Associates Installation featuring the Vondom Adan Planter (seen here as the Table Base) by Italian architect and designer Teresa Sapey, which was a featured item up for bid in the silent.

Interior Design Produced By Silver Lining (Love Table).

It is unfortunate that what turns out to be my best set of photos is of an installation whose designer and associated details I somehow neglected to take note of.

Antique mirror place settings are embedded in a natural moss-covered table surface for ‘Green’ Dining at its finest — very cool!

Perkins and Will with Steelcase and Other Sponsors: (Re)action

One in 8 people living with HVI do not know it. The Pulley system symbolizes the human effort needed to promote awareness and prevention. Illumination is achieved through action. Active participation in the fight for prevention and cure is key for enlightenment.

(Re)action, Detail

Installation by Cappellini, Designed by Giulio Cappellini and Antonio Facco.

This showcase by Twyla featured original abstract paintings by Architect-turned-Artist Edward Granger. Mystify, (2017 ) seen above, left, was part of the auction as well.

These elegant yet comfy-looking low banquets were custom made for the installation.

Beautiful flora including succulents, cacti and air plants were expertly arranged into pieces of living art for an entire wall of this dining space, Desert at Dusk Lush Landscapes by Ovando  (donated by Ovando and Rockwell Group). Landscapes are designed in elegant 10”x10” black plate glass boxes.

Here’s a better look at the really fantastic desert garden wall. All plants were available to own via the silent auction.

Furnishings by Poltrona Frau are features in this showcase designed by Benjamin Noriega Ortiz, with LASVIT Lighting and Orley Shabahang carpets.

Here are separate, but more detailed shots of the left and the right sides of this installation. I really love the Rooster mural!

Design featuring Anteriors inspired furnishings.

Anteriors Detail Shot

Fight Club Logo-inspired Design by Gensler, featuring Knoll Furniture with assistance from contract furnishings company EvensonBest.

Known for its sofas and sectionals, French designer furniture company Roche Bobois provided the  vibrantly-colored cushioned seating that covers the walls of this dining installation, created by Gensler.

What an original, wildly imaginative design approach!

The immersive, 360-degree scrim over the table features a kinetic projection of ocean waves, so that you can feel like you’re dining at the beach! Excellent!

Find out more about DIFFA and its sponsored events, at Diffa Dot Org!