The Second Annual Tabletop Challenge Design Competition is complete and all we can say is…WOW! With a winning design incorporating metal pot scrubbers, jewelry and fine scarves, the design team from HOK of Rachel McCaslin and Rachel Mongeluzo showed that you can never have too many great tabletop products on your table. The Tabletop Challenge event is presented by the IHMRS Show and TabletopJournal.
Teams of designers, using tabletop items provided by sponsors, as well as additional mystery props, had 30 minutes to build their perfect tabletop. There then was a “People’s Choice” vote taken during the remainder of the show with all show attendees voting, with the winner being announced after the Show and being recognized on the IHMRS and TabletopJournal websites.
Showing that the mystery props often help steer the design direction, HOK’s Rachel McCaslin, “We were aiming to keep the design clean, simple, and elegant, while adding some sparkle and warmth. We saw the copper pot scrubbers and went with our gut.”
The winning team from HOK took the top spot in a closely contested voting over last year’s winner Tina Delia and her team from Delia Designs in Philadelphia.
The winning team of “Two Rachels” used a wide range of individual products from every sponsoring company:
Safelite/Norex………..……Table Lighting
Verterra Dinnerware……Salad and Dessert Plate
(used to elevate the center piece)
Steelite…………………..………Side Bowls/Bomioli Rocco
Champagne Flutes/Bormioli Rocco
Ceramic Pedestals/Crucial Detail
Center Piece Bowl/WNK
Side Plates/Anfora
Glass Trays/Catherine Hurand
Hospitality Glass Brands…Tumblers/Finesse
Small Dipping Bowls/Fusion
Rosenthal China………………Flatware/Sambonet
Side Bowls/Mesh Design Overlapping Bowls
Dinner Plate/Mesh Design
Coming from all regions of the U.S. and England, the other competing designers were the team of Jodi Barnett and Daniela Maniezzo of Design Group Carl Ross from Los Angeles, Jennifer Campbell of Foda Design in Atlanta, and Karin-Beate Phillips of British European Design Group from Surrey, England
Special thanks to all the contestants and especially to the incredible tabletop sponsoring companies of Steelite International, Rosenthal/Sambonet, Safelite/Norex, Eastern Tabletop, Hospitality Glass Brands, and Verterra Dinnerware.
