Sunday, November 11, 2012

DIFFA SF Dining by Design 2012 Preview

I am a member of a 9-person inter-collegiate student design team for this year's DIFFA Dining by Design San Francisco event (http://www.diffasf.org for tix & info).  We represent the American Society of Interior Designers Northern California Chapter, and we've been working diligently for the past 10 weeks on our design, which is to be installed this Tuesday all day and Wednesday morning, before the Table Hop & Taste Preview Party Wed night, and the Gala Dinner Thursday night.  Below is a sketch (by me and Tomas Machuca) of our installation design:


Our theme (written by me) is "Circle of Compassion":

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.      - Albert Einstein 

Our circle of compassion is composed of natural elements - wood, crystals and succulents - the beauty of which gives us the strength to endure long-term illness while we search for the cure. The circle is a reflection of the cyclical nature of life, and of the seasons.  Our chosen colors are DIFFA’s red, white and black, to reflect solidarity of purpose, because together, we can free ourselves.


We started with a budget of zero dollars, but thankfully the Board of Directors recognized that's not realistic and gave us some money for moving costs & incidentals.  We've already blown through that small amount & have had to kick in money from our own pockets, in addition to the 40 or so hours of free labor.  Regardless, we have many wonderful sponsors who have loaned us beautiful items for our design, which is going to look AMAZING.



I am so proud to be part of this team and this event, which is near and dear to my heart, benefiting SF General Hospital AIDS patients without insurance.  My former housemate Keer was one of those beneficiaries, and I dedicate my work to him and those like him, who deserve long and healthy lives. (Keer now lives in New Orleans and is doing well.)



I will be live tweeting from our account @ASID_CANorth this Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, with photos from our installation and many others.  This is one of the biggest and brightest design events of the year, which director John Waters has dubbed "The Cannes of Tabletop".  Please follow us and also follow my sustainable design Twitter @jdavidsondesign for more on this event.

2 comments:

  1. Jen, This is a beautiful, inspirational blog post. I enjoyed your design and was moved by the commentary. Thanks for sharing.

    On a lighter note, if you like to read mysteries, you might enjoy my Murders by Design Series, they feature an interior designer as amateur sleuth. And the fourth book in the series, Rooms to Die For, features a showhouse. My heroine is stuck with the kitchen, no funding, and OMG what will she do? Anyway, they're available through Amazon, and again, thanks for sharing the DIFFA event

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Jean!

    I think your series concept is brilliant and I'll be checking out your writing soon!

    I know we're supposed to wish that actors break a leg, what are we supposed to wish for writers - break an arm?! Seriously, I wish you all the best. Plenty of designers like us out there who love to read...

    ReplyDelete

Please be positive. Abuse will not be tolerated.