Ssss is the Word

This past Wednesday, the annual Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Gala was held at Cipriani and the tabletop displays were more dazzling than ever.  This year's theme was the Garden of Eden and one table even came with its own live Adam and Eve alluringly bedecked in strategic foliage.

It was a thrill to participate in designer Harry Heissmann's dramatic Sssss table featuring Eerdmans Fine Arts' (and previously Elton John's) 1970s brass Cobra sculpture by Alain Chervet as its centerpiece.

An illustration of the table's concept by Robert de Michiell

 Harry nestled the snake under a "fantasy weeping willow with wisteria fashioned from upside-down snapdragons" by Emily Thompson Flowers (our favorite florist whose creations adorned the White House one holiday) on a bed of moss.

Artist Mark Gagnon created bedazzled serpent chargers out of papier mache.   The entire mise en scene was arranged on the exuberantly patterned tablecloth made from Tony Duquette for Jim Thompson's Gemstone.   As Harry calls it, it is a table for friends made by friends.

Click here to Sarah Sarna to see more tables...