New York-based interior designer Darrin Varden loves getting people together by designing spaces that are warm, rich with colors, undeniably sensual, and filled with metaphors and symbolism. With all his skills, his passion for design, and inventive vision, it was of no surprise that he was invited by The New Times and world-renowned luxury porcelain brand Lladró to fashioned an elegant dining pavilion with an opulent residential feel for DIFFA’s Dining by Design. High End Weekly™ recently met with the designer who is not only one of NY’s top design talent, but a charming gentleman as well.

High End Weekly™: You were invited by the NYT and Lladrò, the handmade porcelain company from Spain to design a table at DIFFA this year. How did you approach that project? And was the process similar to some of your residential projects?

Darrin Varden: My residential work is often inspired by and anchored with large-scaled fine art. I was putting a Claire Sherman painting in a home I’m working on and had just been looking at her work when I got the call for DIFFA. The painting I used as the jumping off point for this scene was her “Diagonal Tree” which put me in the mindset of the charitable component of the occasion, Design Industries’ Foundation Fighting AIDS. I saw these gorgeous, broken, fallen redwoods, once so strong, ravaged yet still beautiful, still imposing in their beauty, paralleling the destruction of AIDS on the landscape of humanity. The beauty of the memory of those we lost is juxtaposed against trees that are still standing, those for whom HIV is no longer a death sentence. It was perfect.

Once D.C. Moore Gallery said we could borrow the piece, I started thinking about a modern, organic look, similar to what Lladro is doing in some of their sculpture lines. And I got this little click in my head about The New York Times, our host, that old saw about ‘Black and white and re(a)d all over,’ and that became my color scheme.

I was so lucky with collaborating on custom chairs from Artistic Frame, which specializes in custom and made-to-order furniture. They partnered with me to create an elegant ebonized strié styled finish that just complements that painting. Everyone was so generous – we got custom upholstery fabric for the chairs in a deep red velvet by Stark. A wool sateen by Stark worked really well on custom benches of our own design, fabricated by Peruvian Touch custom workroom. The entire tableau is finished in a glistening frame, painted in Benjamin Moore’s aptly named Dinner Party red. We couldn’t believe that was the name of the color!

” Design is all about the people who will inhabit the spaces, not about the things in the space. It is about how people relate to one another within the space – especially a dining room”. Interior designer Darrin Varden

HEW: The stallion sculptures from your table design were graceful, yet very strong. Would you say that this description is synonymous with your design aesthetic?

Darrin Varden: Yes, in my work I very intentionally honor the masculine and feminine in everything. Those wild horses are like that – though graceful they’re also fierce and muscular. I love how Lladro used the matte finish on the porcelain, it has just the same level of gloss as a horse’s coat, smooth but not pristine. Those juxtapositions are what makes art.

HEW: I remembered your past projects, especially the one you did a few years ago at The Holiday House. Looking at your work, I see this fabric of togetherness which tells me that you like to bring people together. Is that right?

Darrin Varden: Design is all about the people who will inhabit the spaces, not about the things in the space. It is about how people relate to one another within the space – especially a dining room. You want to give people unexpected touches, a reason to come present to the moment and to each other. Great design, and the use of fine art within a design, can do that. It’s pretty exciting. At the same time, you want them to feel comfortable. I tend to call my living spaces lounges rather than living rooms for that reason.

We often talk about ‘table-scapes’ in doing these events, but to your point about togetherness, I wanted to have an actual table-scape, with multiple levels and dimensions and a horizon line and a focal point that draws the guest out beyond the space and into their own imagination, which also creates conversational ice-breakers,” said Varden. That focal point, the large painting that centers the room, is given additional notice through the use of the backless custom benches, and by flanking it with two chandeliers rather than using one large chandelier in the center. This up-and-down table-scape keeps the eye moving through the design, and I also worked closely with floral designer Shula Weiner of Flowers by Special Arrangement to achieve his vision for a rich, tonal mix of deep wine and berry hues in various textures, a sumptuous field for the graceful black porcelain horses.

“When it comes to personal travel, I’m not a beachgoer or a sun worshipper. I’d rather go where there are museums or architectural or design oriented things I want to explore, like Barcelona with all that Gaudi”. Darrin Varden

HEW: How important is art to you, and your clients? Do you advised them on their art choice?

Darrin Varden: There are clients that I do advise but others are already collectors. In fact as my practice grows I’ve found that art collectors gravitate toward my interiors and become clients for that very reason. I sometimes go in to an initial meeting with Benjamin Moore fan deck and pull colors from their favorite art pieces to create the color scheme.

HEW: What do you love about design, why do you find it exciting?

Darrin Varden: Well you know, Vyna, “Changing the world one room at a time!” Seriously I do actually believe that transforming where a person lives and how they live can contribute to the transformation of people’s lives, at least in some ways.

For me the really energizing thing about design is that it’s always evolving. So as a designer I have to evolve with it, and to me, that evolution and growth is the purpose of living.

HEW: What inspires you during your travels? Tell us about some of your favorite places to visit.

Darrin Varden: When it comes to personal travel, I’m not a beachgoer or a sun worshipper. I’d rather go where there are museums or architectural or design oriented things I want to explore, like Barcelona with all that Gaudi. I’m also a foodie so I like to go where I can dine adventurously. I love Greece, the ancient-ness of Athens and the Acropolis and the Parthenon, Delos with those mosaics from antiquity that I would totally put in a home today juxtaposed with a piece of mid-century furniture, that truly timeless aspect of design. And I love to see any place with great modernist and newer iconic buildings. That’s also why I love living in New York – I’m that design geek always looking up. When it comes to cities, I think a great benchmark for the future is Vancouver, a growing city, civically mindful in its growth and with a forward-thinking architectural and design point of view.

Photo credit: Alan Barry Photography. All rights reserved