PARTIES

Egg Drop

A charitable crowd gathered to honor the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt

by Sue Williamson

Waris Ahluwalia and Johan Lindeberg

What: An Audi-hosted dinner in honor of the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt, a city-wide event benefitting Studio in a School, a non-profit program that brings visual art training to New York public schools; and Elephant Family, a charity dedicated to protecting the Asian elephant and its neighboring animals.

Where: New York’s Riverpark restaurant, where artist Leo Villareal’s egg, made of LED lights, lit the room.

When: Tuesday, April 15th

Who: Waris Ahluwalia and Elephant Family’s Mark Shand were the evening’s hosts, bringing together guests from the fields of art and philanthropy including Sydie Lansing, Princess Eugenie, Johan Lindeberg, Kenza Fourati, and Elephant Family’s Ruth and Mary Powys.

Why: This year marks the Big Egg Hunt’s first venture in New York City, which prompted Elephant Family members to recall the art exhibit that inspired it all. The show in question featured elephant-shaped topiary frames dressed in giant Chanel and Balenciaga couture, created by the fashion houses for a 2004 Bruce Weber shoot for W. For the next ten years, the foundation staged public art with playful elephant statues, which evolved into fake city jungles, and finally into the egg hunt it is today. “It got the message out and made people smile,” said the foundation’s chief executive Ruth Powys of the first installation. And, judging by the nearly 18,000 photos tagged #TheBigEggHuntNY on Instagram—and the number of egg puns cracked at dinner—it continues to do so.

The Benefit Auction for the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt is online through Paddle8 now until April 26th.

Photos: Egg Drop

Waris Ahluwalia and Johan Lindeberg. Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

Mary Powys, Mark Shand, and Ruth Powys. Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

Princess Eugenie. Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

Mark Shand and Sydie Lansing. Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

Riverpark. Photo by Joe Schildhorn /BFAnyc.com.

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