DIFFA Dining by Design is one of the New York design community’s favorite fundraisers.  Launched 13 years ago, Dining by Design is now a national tour with upcoming events this year in Kansas City (4/30-5/1), Chicago, Atlanta, Columbus and San Francisco.

Louise Tanis, Director, Furniture Merchandising, The Robert Allen Group, and

New York Showroom Manager, Robert Allen | Beacon Hill

Each year, I look forward to seeing the tables at Dining by Design, after weeks of hearing about their progress from our customers who design them.  DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) built its reputation on the creativity of its fundraisers but this concept was a stroke of brilliance, combining interior design as theater with dining as an event to attract corporate sponsorships.

Selecting just a few of the brilliant tables to show was hard, but here goes:

Wow, now this is a daring environment.  Contrasting a simple table set in white with dramatic, dynamic space, four students from the New York School of Interior Design created a strong vignette with purpose using green scrap wood and other used materials. Part of the student design initiative of Dining by Design, they benefited from the guidance of interior designer Michael Tavano (boy, did they luck out!)  This is proof that you can create a memorable setting from very little.  

 The seating creates the unexpected at Butoni’s table, designed by Evette Rios.  Bright color draws you in and the build-up in the center of the table creates drama.  I loved Evette’s use of everyday items (the flower pots) to create the wall which defines the space. You can smell the sea air, taste the linguine fra diavlo and hear everyone laughing and talking.  It looks like it is going to be a fun evening that you want to join in.

Annemarie diSalvo of diSalvo Interiors did a marvelous job designing this table for The New York Times. Even if Annmarie (and her mother, Rosemarie) weren’t among our favorite customers, I would have been enchanted by this take on “Moulin Rouge.”  Inspired by turn-of-the-century Paris, the red and black color palette and dramatic lighting sets the mood.  The design makes you want to be part of it, you can almost hear the music…The space was enclosed and layered with everyday items and just a few props.  This setting beckoned guests into the space to become part of the event.

  
Marc Wilson Designs & Mark Tamayo created a tablescape for Manhattan Magazine that was all about spring yellow, perfect for a gray and rainy day.  A bright, fun, chatty Sunday brunch with toys.  Bring the kids or adults only, all talking at once while playing. The individual setting is simple but imaginative, with easy-to-find props that guests get to take home as a remembrance of the day.

Donald Lanziero was the designer of this whimsical table with a deeper message, (to me at least). A living carton with bright contemporary colors, this vignette is as unexpected as it is inspired.  The over-scaled objects are a wake-up call to realize we expect an interior to accommodate us.  It challenges us to question what the objects are, can they be used and why are most things the same? And it was just plain fun!  Kudos!

If you have an opportunity to attend Dining by Design “on tour” this year, don’t miss it.

For more information, see www.diffa.org.

Larry Laslo, President, Larry Laslo Designs: I thought I’d give you some insight into my inspiration for Destinations, my next collection of upholstery, window and multi-purpose fabric for Robert Allen.

Need I explain? This was me hard at work researching the Destination collection. I was soaking up that South Florida atmosphere for Miami Beat, one of the two books of my designs that debut next month. The other book, called Rustic Chic, was inspired by another destination I love, Aspen.

I do a lot of work in South Florida and when I’m there, I always fit in a shopping trip to the Dixie Highway.  This stretch of road in Palm Beach has an assortment of eccentric antique shops where I almost always find a vintage piece or two for my projects.  Interiors are all about the mix – like really good hair color, they are a blend of different colors and influences.

You’ll find an animal-skin motif somewhere in most of my interiors.  But my leopard-skin fabrics are interpreted in lush, saturated hues of ruby, tourmaline and amber.  A touch of the unexpected takes a glamorous interior and makes it memorable.

This is the dining room from a Miami condo I’ve designed for one of my clients. I love contrast- in scale, in pattern….even in materials.  I’ve paired antique brocade with Robert Allen’s polished white patent leather on the Christopher Guy dining chairs. Drop a meatball and whip out the Windex…

In the bedroom of the same home, I combined three shades of silk on the abstract sculpted headboard by Christopher Guy.  The difference in the colors is so subtle you have to look very carefully to see what makes the fabrics shimmer. I consider composition in two and three dimensions.  And I see each room completely finished as a photograph in my mind at the start of each project. 

Here’s another cover from our dearly departed Met Home Magazine, this is one of my Aspen projects.  My clients are sophisticated art collectors and they wanted “rustic but not corny.” The antique Biedermeier-style chaise with burl veneer was one of their favorite pieces.  I knew it would fit right into this contemporary interior if I covered it with lime green hair on hide.  

I designed the brass base of the dining table to support a crystal tabletop – not glass because I didn’t want the edges to look green. The midcentury starburst chandelier adds a fantasy touch.  The centerpiece consists of the largest succulents I could find – low enough to not interfere in conversation.  But the real star of the show is that spectacular mountain view!

You’ll find a touch of humor in all my projects.  I love glamour but it has to be livable and it has to be fun.  I love what I do for a living and I think that’s the key to my success.

No one thought it strange one woman living with seven men in the forest?

Visit www.larrylaslodesigns.com for more information.

Welcome to Design Dialogue, The Robert Allen Group’s new blogsite. The word “dialogue” is key as we appreciate the wealth of knowledge among our many customers across the country and around the world.  We’d like to know your thoughts and hope you’ll tell us what you’d like to hear from us.

Here at The Robert Allen Group, we feel privileged to have day-to-day dealings with some of the design industry’s most fascinating personalities and intriguing businesses.  We want to share observations, trend information and customer feedback that can help you in your own business.  And sometimes we’ll just share the things that delight us! 

Since the New Year, our fabric design team has visited Europe, the Middle East and South Asia on an unending quest to find the very finest qualities of the fabrics we’ll introduce in upcoming collections.  It helps us keep our fingers on the pulse of global design, as so many of the newest innovations and trends begin abroad.  We asked for their opinions about the trends they see driving design in 2010.  Here are their answers:

Christy Almond, Operating Vice President, Fabric Design, Robert Allen:

Natural simplicity has moved into our home living spaces as an entire room, a lifestyle --- no longer just an influence but now an established trend.  Once simply an accent, its voice now speaks to color, texture/finish, and content.  We have translated “natural” in many aspects of our fabric collections, inspired by authenticity, simplicity and clarity.   Our colors are mid-tones, clear but soft, not sharp and whitened but calm and sophisticated.  I keep my camera close at hand as I travel and the following photos remind me of different aspects of “natural” in our newest collections.

Natural Textures 

Soft Surfaces

Greenhouse-Inspired 

Rustic Treasures

Alexis Audette, Design Director, Beacon Hill Fabrics: 

Wallpaper has been making a come back in recent years with an exciting embrace of pattern and historicism in celebrations of color and scale.

Papers are printed (hand and digital), embossed, gilded and handpainted.  In palettes both bold and soft, some of my favorite designs are freshly interpreted traditional motifs such as renaissance frames, Japanese florals and Moorish geometrics.  Also scenic designs including brilliantly colored bamboo stands and softly monochromatic Palladian landscapes.

Japanese Florals

Moorish Geometric

Jennie Wilde, Vice President, Product Design & Merchandising, The Robert Allen Group: 

Global color trends are a particular interest of mine as I travel.  Brights have always had more international renown and typically the European markets and other international venues are more aggressive when it comes to the trending of new colors. We see purple "coming" on strong . Grey has become a comfortable companion overseas and at home in the USA. It has held it own in contemporary interiors and rather than “just another hue,” we expect to see it influencing smokier palettes and other midtones in the future. Shown below at the Robert Allen “stand” at Maison et Object last month,  we appreciated its sophistication and calming presence when paired with the complementary colors of chartreuse and purple. Expect to see more and more purple on this side of the pond soon! 

Robert Allen “Stand” at Maison et Objet)the purple headboard and palette of purple chartreuse and grey overall photo of booth

There has been a strong trend toward ethnic for some time. Ethnic looks are typically energetic in nature due to the imperfect symmetry of the patterning, disproportionate arrangement of design elements and inspirational color combinations. Graphics are bold yet inviting as their inherent strength is softened by the hand-crafted creation of the pattern. See the calligraphy of the sofa fabric, bold combinations of chartreuse and black in the ikat-inspired blocks and over-dyed woven rattan pillows that comment on ethnic in a completely "modern manner."   

Destinations Collection, Larry Laslo Designs for Robert Allen

I see all things natural as important and trending now --- from color to texture to fiber selection, even curious motifs. We are seeing "beyond the botanical" (what the world used to call natural) in our contemporized snakeskin print with a lacquer-like accent on the skin pattern. Our jute window layer is woven with leather and unlike any "casement" we have ever seen. This newest natural pairing is rustic yet refined, technically innovative yet approachable. We believe "natural" will be a story with resonance to be defined and redefined over the next decade.

Destinations Collection, Larry Laslo Designs for Robert Allen

Robert Allen’s Intrepid Travelers:  (l to r): Alexis Audette, Christy Almond, Jennie Wilde and Anne Lekow, Director, Robert Allen Fabric Design- Window Product

More next week. Between now and then, we hope we’ll hear your thoughts on the key trends driving design this year.