DIFFA Launches First-Ever Online Auction
Launching Thursday, October 1, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS is hosting its first-ever online DIFFA By Design Auction. A response to the postponement of DIFFA’s Dining By Design, the organization’s main annual fundraiser, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hope is that the auction will help bring in funds to continue the 501(c)(3)’s mission: to raise awareness and grant funds to organizations that provide treatment, direct care services, preventive education programs, and advocacy for individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS. “We are truly an organization that’s all-encompassing in the design world,” says DIFFA executive director Dawn Roberson, who worked closely and tirelessly with DIFFA chairman and Interior Design editor in chief Cindy Allen to pull together the auction.
Among the more than 100 pieces up for bid, a stunning mix of artwork, furnishings, and accessories, all of which have been graciously donated by designers, manufacturers, and friends, is a sleek ottoman by Dune, an iconic Eames coatrack in a Pride palette, a unique lamp by Andrea Anastasio for Foscarini, a signed print by Alex Proba, and a design consultation with Vanessa Deleon. “During critical times like these,” Allen says, “you see the strength, resilience, and generosity of our industry to pull together to help others. I am so proud of our design community continuing to make a DIFFA-rence!”
To kick off the auction Oct. 1, DIFFA is hosting an exclusive virtual launch party at 6pm EST, featuring a not-to-miss performance by award-winning drag star and singer Sutton Lee Seymour, aka the “Robin Williams of Drag.” Tickets purchased for the opening-night soiree include early bidding access to the items in the auction, which runs through Oct. 4.