It was fascinating for a food person to view dining from the designer’s perspective. Some made my inner culinary diva silently gag (like a cream-colored, crocheted doily gone wild covering tabletop,
seats and even the floor. I shudder picturing a spill of spaghetti). Another, styled with chairs made of what looked like thick broomsticks made me feel pity for anyone forced to endure an entire
meal at that table.
In a sea of wild creativity, simple and traditional stood out for its practicality. There is nothing more enjoyable than a good meal in a beautiful, warm and comfortable setting. A personal favorite of mine from among the instillations was Preston Lee and Jennifer Dyer’s Deja View dining room. The space was a duet of tables with fairly traditional settings but with elegant details that set them apart from one another. I dubbed them “naughty” and “nice.” Nice was clean, stately and luxuriously old fashioned – the sort of table for a serious meal. Naughty was more opulent, sensual, with strokes of
claret red and – my favorite touch – gold leaf framed mirrors hung on the ceiling like Vegas hotel suite from the 1980’s. The dining room as an aphrodisiac – an innovation long overdue!
I did also appreciate the sentiment of several experimental installations. My favorite was the food political statement presented by the New York Times. Designed by Doug Wilson of Trading Spaces fame, the room was a celebration of green –green supplies, green message and a blanket of beautiful, live, growing greens as the backdrop of color. A stunning statement, the “live” American flag was among the event’s most captivating images as well as the exhibition’s strongest culinary statement.
Dining by Design tours major cities across the country each year. To tearn more about next year’s events and to get more information on DIFFA’s fundraising efforts, please visit http://www.diffa.org.
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