Dining By Design is the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’ annual fundraiser event that showcases designers, manufacturers, and more creatives through their passionate, vision-driven table decorations.
This March, in conjunction with the recent Architectural Digest Design Show in New York City, DIFFA celebrated its 35th anniversary by hosting an elaborate showcase of table presentations to over 40,000 guests.
For five days from March 21 to March 25, 2019, participants showed off exquisite tablescapes at NYC’s Pier 92. All of the event’s proceeds go towards DIFFA’s work in fighting HIV/AIDS and raising awareness and research funds for the disease.
“While we’re getting better at preventing and treating HIV, there’s still work to be done to wipe this awful disease off the map,” DIFF Board Chair Cindy Allen said in a statement. “DIFFA’s Dining By Design is the design community’s call to action and of course, we respond in style. Each year, top talent designers from around the world create lavish installations that astound, inspire, and most importantly, raise money for HIV/AIDS-affected communities in need.”
This season’s event featured table installations by Gensler + Knoll + EvensonBest in conjunction with Miller Blaker, Patrick Mele for Benjamin Moore, Felderman Keatinge + Associates, INC Architecture & Design, Novità Communications + Maiarelli Studio, the Black Artists and Designers Guild, David Scott Interiors For Roche Bobois, Damour Drake presents Kingston Design Connection, German Center Kitchen, IA Interior Architects, INC Architecture & Design, Lucinda Loya Inteirors, MCKENZIE LIAUTAUD | ROBERT VERDI, Rockwell Group, Modern Luxury, Stacy Garcia Home x Crypton Home Fabric, Herman Miller, Studio TK/Tarkett/Huntsman, and more.
Each designer and brand represented in this year’s event was proud to join the DIFFA’s fight against AIDS and give back through great design.
In a press statement, IA Interior Architects explained: “It’s been 35 years since the discovery of the AIDS virus in 1984. Since that time, we have seen a tremendous increase in awareness, education, activism, and enhanced treatments, but still have a journey ahead. Our room celebrates how far we have come, and examines how much more there is to do.”
Designers representing the New York School of Interior Design aimed to change observers’ views of HIV through their table designs.
“The intent of this installation is to reshape the viewer’s perception of HIV/AIDS,” the group said in a statement. “Infinity mirrors will enforce the abstract idea of perception and point of view, while HIV statistics will be transformed into free standing sculptures. Sculptures will be mirrored endlessly; this is symbolic of not becoming another statistic. 1 in 7 Americans living wih HIV are unaware of their infection.”
The team at Gensler + Knoll + EvensonBest wants to remind those living with HIV – “You Are Beautiful.” That’s the title of their bold piece from the Dining By Design show, called a “celebratory reminder to all those individuals living with HIV/AIDS that they are BEAUTIFUL both inside and out, that they deserve enduring happiness, and more importantly that they are not alone in their fight.”
We are so impressed by these fabulous table displays – and the incredible meaning behind each thoughtfully-crafted display.
All photos by Alan Barry, provided courtesy of the Dining By Design show
