Renowned event planner David Stark reveals whimsical, artistic, unexpected designs often created from sustainable, industrial, or low-cost materials to inspire readers—whether planning a wedding, dinner party, or holiday gathering—looking for ideas for their own events. Twenty-five of David Stark's events are featured—both private celebrations and charitable galas— and showcase how he developed the inspiration for the overarching theme, color palette, and the thoughtful, coordinated details he's known for, and which truly make an event memorable. From the New York Metropolitan Opera opening gala to Target’s large-scale charitable events and pop-up shops, David Stark’s inimitable influence is sweeping the design world—and thanks to his books, becoming more accessible for his legions of fans. No matter the event, The Art of the Party is sure to inspire creativity and become an essential resource for years to come.

As sweet as a love note, as welcome as a holiday, as easy as pie. Take simple squares of cloth, succinctly written directions, and clearly photographed steps and create fantastic napkin folds that transform your table into a showpiece. Mixing whimsy and elegance, celebrity event designer David Stark fashions stylish setups for every occasion. In Napkins with a Twist, Stark turns his unerring eye to the art of the perfect table setting, focusing on the quick, inexpensive, and creative. From everyday to evening, children's parties to black-tie affairs, a clever napkin fold turns any gathering into a memorable event. Classic folds such as the Tuexedo Fold, together with Stark's own innovative designs—including the wildly fun Fortune Cookie and Sushi Roll folds—make setting the table a no-brainer. Folds from Buckingham Palace and the Kennedy White House, New York's Pierre and Napa Valley's French Laundry, reveal how royalty, the rich and famous, the world's legendary restaurants, all put just the right touches on their signature starched linens. Along with its array of napkin folds, Napkins with a Twist spills over with useful tips, how-to lists, etiquette reminders, table settings, and surprising suggestions for how a napkin fold can become the starting point for designing an entire occasion.

David Stark is one of New York’s most creative and sought-after event designers. This book explores forty of Stark’s elaborate yet eco-friendly events—corporate, non-profit, and private—with 200 exquisite photographs and descriptive text. Organized according to the designer’s quirky phraseology—“Animate the Inanimate” “Don't Take It So Seriously . . . At the End of the Day, It's a Party” “From Many Little Things Make One Big Thing” "It's Not What You Use, But How You Use It" and "Make Packaging the Prize"—this book is unique in both its presentation and its content. Stark considers his events “art installations” and when guests enter his spaces, that is exactly how they feel—surrounded by the kind of creative input and passion that can only be described as art. Clients include Condé Nast Publications, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, Hearst Corporation, Michael Graves, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, Rachael Ray, Tory Burch, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Sundance Institute, and Target.

What counts? In work, as in other areas of life, it is not always clear what standards we are being judged by or how our worth is being determined. This can be disorienting and disconcerting. Because of this, many organizations devote considerable resources to limiting and clarifying the logics used for evaluating worth. But as David Stark argues, firms would often be better off, especially in managing change, if they allowed multiple logics of worth and did not necessarily discourage uncertainty. In fact, in many cases multiple orders of worth are unavoidable, so organizations and firms should learn to harness the benefits of such "heterarchy" rather than seeking to purge it. Stark makes this argument with ethnographic case studies of three companies attempting to cope with rapid change: a machine-tool company in late and postcommunist Hungary, a new-media startup in New York during and after the collapse of the Internet bubble, and a Wall Street investment bank whose trading room was destroyed on 9/11. In each case, the friction of competing criteria of worth promoted an organizational reflexivity that made it easier for the company to change and deal with market uncertainty. Drawing on John Dewey's notion that "perplexing situations" provide opportunities for innovative inquiry, Stark argues that the dissonance of diverse principles can lead to discovery.

Stunning contemporary tabletop designs inspired by historical decorative objects from the world's great museums Throughout history, tabletop decoration has been at the nexus of utilitarian function and innovative design. In At the Artisan's Table, designers and event producers Jane Schulak and David Stark pair historical tableware from the world's finest design museums with pieces by an international array of contemporary artisans who reinterpret traditional crafts and styles, including Aptware (marbled clay), blue-and-white Delft, chinoiserie, faux bois, plaster, splatterware, and trompe l'oeil. Each chapter features a museum object that serves as a "muse"; the work and studio of the artist who has updated the traditional craft; and gorgeous table settings designed by Schulak and Stark that incorporate the artist's handmade wares and provide inspiration for everyone who has ever wished to wow their dinner guests.

Back in print for the first time in years, this classic of interior-design history showcases the masterful work of David Hicks (1929–1998), who is acknowledged as one of the most important designers of the late twentieth century, in the company of Billy Baldwin and Albert Hadley. Known for his bold use of color, eclecticism, and geometric designs in carpets and textiles, Hicks turned English decorating on its head in the 1950s and ’60s. His trademark use of electrifying color combinations, and mixing antiques, modern furniture, and abstract paintings became the “in style” for the chic of the day, including Vidal Sassoon and Helena Rubinstein. By the 1970s, David Hicks was a brand; his company was making wallpaper, fabrics, and linens and had outposts in eight countries, including the United States where he worked with the young Mark Hampton, and where his wallpaper was used in the White House. “My greatest contribution as an interior designer has been to show people how to use bold color mixtures, how to use patterned carpets, how to light rooms, and how to mix old with new,” he stated in his 1968 work, David Hicks on Living—With Taste, the last authoritative book on his work. Written by his son, Ashley Hicks, with unprecedented access to Hicks’s archives, personal photographs, journals, and scrapbooks, this book is a vibrantly illustrated celebration of a half century of stunning interiors.