We are always honored to participate in the IMAJNZ Foundation’s “A Date with a Plate” event, a non-profit organization created solely for the purpose of helping local charities through the appreciation of innovative event design. As we again begin to plan {and plot} our table design for this year’s “Date with a Plate” event on May 8th and 9th, we took a trip down memory lane to see what other design concepts we cooked up for previous versions of the event. At the Date with a Plate event in 2010, Evantine Design’s Creative Director, Brian Kappra, was inspired by his love for Central and South American travel when he designed his tropical paradise “Dinner on the Terrace in Buzios.“

Photos Courtesy of Marie Labbancz.

The IMAJNZ Foundation was founded just three short years ago by our good friends Judi Goodman and Sharyn Berman as a fundraising organization created specifically to support selected public charities in the Greater Philadelphia area.   As it did in 2008 and 2010, Date with a Plate supported The Noreen O’Neill Foundation for Melanoma Research.  This year, all monies will go to designing and building a Serenity Garden at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center.

The foundation’s Date with a Plate event celebrates stunning table décor as interpreted and presented by professional event planners, florists, interior designers, and caterers as well as personal collectors sharing their aesthetic passion.  At the 2010 event at the Phoenixville Foundry, stylish lifestyle stores like Neiman Marcus  and celebrated interior designers such as Eddie Ross, were showcased for their creativity.

When it came to Evantine’s “Dinner on the Terrace” table design, the first piece of the design puzzle was creating a modern canopy that would provide a dramatic enclosure for the table setting itself. A modern structural canopy that would also include a ceiling of light over the exotic tropical garden table.

The table wouldn’t have been complete without a beautifully presented first course of grilled shrimp with mango salsa.  Lucite photo cubes made stylish menus, with each side of the cube noting a course in our “fantasy” menu.

Modern elements like polished chrome lanterns, white patio furniture and crisp contemporary glass layered with saturated tropical flowers.  A slate fountain was placed at the back of the “terrace” as another layer of tranquility in the modern garden setting.

As event designers, we truly do adore the vibrant colors, shapes and textures that tropical flowers provide a design scheme.  For this table display, all types of tropical blooms, such as orchids, anthurium, ginger, protea, tropical foliage and bamboo were paired with river rock, shells and slate to convey the mood of Costa Rica.

Generally, the Date with a Plate events are shared with over 250 guests who enjoy delicious, and beautifully styled, hors d’oeuvres and beverages as they wander through the many fascinating design exhibits.

This year’s event will take place at Peche at Sherman Mills will raise monies for a Serenity Garden at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and will be located at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.  We encourage you to join us on May 8th and 9th for an inspirational Date with a Plate!