TABLE HOPPING AT THE LENOX HILL GALA
When 50 designers create tablesettings for a gala event, be prepared to be wowed. This year's Veranda-sponsored Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Gala, A Spring Affair was a true standout, as creatives designed tablescapes with the freshest spring blooms on some of the most beautiful tables I have ever seen. Held at Cipriani, Design Chairs, VERANDA’s editor in chief Clinton Smith, design and decoration editor Carolyn Englefield, antiques dealer David Duncan, interior designer Lindsey Coral Harper and ceramic artist Christopher Spitzmiller assembled a fantastic group of new and established talents. Below, a look at some of this years standouts:
Photo courtesy of Roberto Ricci
Ashley Whittaker's Peonies in the Park table was perfection, with a gigantic pink peony arrangement and touches of green
Total perfection with Anemones and all
Total Perfection with smaller vases of Anemones and all
Photo courtesy of Roberto Ricci
Showcasing their newly launched Botanical Garden plate designs, Oscar de la Renta's table was covered with a vibrant blue and green ikat fabric and a low arrangement of multicolored ranunculus in the center
Photo courtesy of Marco Ricca
Allison Hennessy used an etagere in the center of her table, placing lit votives and perfectly-in-bloom white roses in Pagoda Bloom
Channelling Tony Duquette's More is More philosophy, Lindsey Coral Harper went Hollywood. Giant coral manzanita branches in a huge gold vase were breathtaking.
This table by Mixed Greens wowed, every detail was thought of. Pale pink plates matched the exquisite pale blooms of flowering Cherry branches
I love that CB2 plates can be just the thing
Photo courtesy of Marco Ricca
Creel and Gow, the cabinet of curiousities shop on the Upper East Side went for blue and white, with a floral sprig fabric and special French handmade marbleized plates they carry at the shop. A centerpiece consisted of assorted blanc de chine animals to fit the theme White Mischief
Small vases housed low arrangements of pink and white flowers at the center of Alessandra Branca's blue and pink table. She featured her new Pagoda china pattern.
Photo courtesy of Marco Ricca
A tree grows out of the center of Lilly Bunn's checkered tablecloth in A Picnic in the Park. It was giant, but hey, that's what making a statement is all about.
Photo courtesy of Marc Ricco
Rebecca Gardner did a lovely April in Paris themed table in pink and white stripes compete with a fringed umbrella
By way of the French Riviera...
Scott Guthrie was influenced by the German artist Isa Gensken, who put bits of garbage and unexpected items in her towering floral arrangements that mix real and faux. In Urban Apocalypse, An Assemblage of Spring Recalled, Guthrie included a candy bar wrapper and other off elements like little plastic army men around the base of his vase. The individual terra cotta pots holding tiny blooming flowers added such charm.
Feeling Easter with low daffodil arrangements, grasses hiding easter eggs and a giant purple flower assortment above, Sam Allen went Preppy Chic with matching Quadrille fabric everywhere
Ferns rule the day at Decorative Traces table, themed The Importance of Being WIlde
A tree decorated with long. bright ribbons sits high above Patrick Mele's table, La Palette Printemps
Punchy black and white played into everything on Edward Lobrano's table, from the Dalmatian spot napkins to papier mache flowers and bone-inlay hurricanes
Photo courtesy of Marco Ricca
Tulip Time with McMillen! Five mirrored shelves hold vases of tulips from a towering silver pole that rises out of the center of the table for their Ring in Spring theme. How high can you go? Oh the drama!
Three pastel parasols emerge out of a glass vase alongside cheery Cherry blossom branches in Cherry Blossom Jubilee by Byron C. James
Photo courtesy of Marco Ricca
Suzanne and Lauren McGrath used a fern fabric I adore in their Ode to Elsie de Wolfe
Another exquisite blooming tree! Created by Plaza Flowers, one of the best flower designers on the Upper East.
Nautical done right, by Libby Langdon called Set Sail This Spring. Sounds like a great idea.
David Duncan paired brights with matching orchids and a magical Raj winged wooden horse, wearing swags of flowers on high
And the band played on. Musical notes rise out of a pink rose arrangement