Last week, Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and fashion designer Tracy Reese hosted the 16th annual Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) Dining by Design Gala Dinner and raised roughly $600,000 for people living with HIV/AIDS. Artistic duo Isabel & Ruben Toledo and board member Rick Wolf were honored for their longtime support of DIFFA.
“Dining by Design is the design community's answer to a global epidemic: AIDS,” said Cindy Allen, editor-in-chief of Interior Design magazine and chairwoman of DIFFA. “It gives us an opportunity to design (what we do best), dine (a close second), and most important, make a difference. What more can you ask for?”
The Toledos, Cindy Allen, David Rockwell
Guests including Cyndi Lauper, David Rockwell, Margaret Russell, Alfredo Paredes, Marc Blackwell, Patrick McMullan and Michael Musto dined at notable tables including Ralph Lauren’s classic all-American display, Interior Design Magazine’s abstract and conceptual pattern presentation and David Rockwell’s “Kinky Boots” installation.
Gensler
Interior Design Magazine
Parsons New School for Design
Thom Filicia
“We wanted to remember why we are celebrating, so this year we turned up the volume on DIFFA's branding using hauntingly beautiful faces with the message, ‘I want to make a DIFFArence,’” said Allen. “It was a simple yet effective tool, and the resounding commentary was that it made the event much more meaningful.”
The next stop for the Dining by Design 2013 tour will be DIFFA Kansas City on Saturday April 13, 2013. It will then launch in Detroit, Chicago and San Francisco.
