Making A DIFFArence!

Well .... 7 days and counting until the big DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) event that we're involved with this year. Again, for those of you who may not know, DIFFA is one of the largest fundraisers benefiting HIV/AIDS service and education organizations in the United States and has provided more than $35 million to hundreds these groups nationwide since it's inception. Dining By Design is DIFFA's signature fund-raising event and multicity marketing platform, and it's also one of the most FUN parties of the year! Dubbed the “Cannes of Tabletop” by filmmaker John Waters, this annual event is an opportunity for various corporations and designers to showcase their creativity and talents by producing unique dining installations that will ultimately accommodate their dinner guests.

We've been working feverishly on our design concept which we must say we're incredibly excited about it. We just pray that everything comes together in the end. With that in mind, you may have noticed we've had very little time for blogging this week. However, we do want to remind everyone that there's still plenty of time to buy tickets for this year's DBD event which runs in conjunction with the Architectural Digest Home Show. For more information click here!

One of the other designer's involved in this year's DBD is the talented event planner David Stark who is creating a table for Benjamin Moore. We've always admired Stark's work and were especially taken with a sweet story that ran in the New York Times last September in which he was given the task of designing 3 separate centerpieces using unexpected items one might find at a hardware store (top three photos above taken by Marilynn K. Yee). We thought he pulled this off brilliantly and wanted to share them with you. Most recently, Stark lent his talent to help raise money for the Cooper Hewitt Museum at the opening party for New York's newest West Elm store. We happened to be there that night for the preview and once again we were beyond impressed with the items he designed from recycled material for the evening's silent auction (last photo above). We can hardly wait to see what he's come up with for this year's DIFFA event. Hopefully all you New Yorkers reading this will be able to see it for yourselves firsthand. If so .... please make sure you stop by our table to say hello and possibly "change" someones life forever!