By Ada Brunstein

The Dining by Design Dinner Gala on December 6 – hosted by DIFFA, or Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS – marked the grand finale of an unusual two-day exhibit at the Boston Design Center.

The idea is simple. Top designers and their sponsors create a dining area – or tablescape, to borrow the evening’s parlance – which comes complete with table, tableware, decorations, lighting, even the walls. Boston’s charitable design-lovers buy their $500 ticket, dress to the nines, drink wine (in this case, wines from Beringer, one of the evening’s sponsors), and bid at a silent auction. Then dinner is served on each of the beautifully crafted tables, followed by dancing and cocktails. Proceeds from the event go to AIDS research and services.

But the results, and the design process for the original works of art, are far from simple. Extravagant spectacles is more like it: purple butterflies, soap bubble chandeliers, and a paper cut-out gazebo… Or at least that’s how the fine materials used in each installation appear.

Boston was the exhibit’s final stop in an eight-city tour organized by DIFFA, one of the country’s largest funders of AIDS service and education.

Each tablescape is sponsored by an organization such as the New York Times, Hewlett Packard, and Napa Valley’s Beringer Vineyards.

When New York-based designer Marc Blackwell created the chic table for Beringer, he drew on the natural beauty of the vineyards and the winery itself in Napa.

“There was a 300 year old oak on the vineyard,” said Blackwell. “It was a huge tree and it leaned really far over. It was so beautiful.

“When I went back to the Vineyard the tree had fallen over,” he said, with palpable regret. But by that time he had captured the tree’s beauty in the majestic golden branches that he hand-painted on the back wall of his dining area.

Light browns, whites and occasional greens adorned the table and chairs. Thin branches that seemed to be cleaned of their bark rose from tall vases, casting lattice-like shadows on the canvas that hung overhead. And a splash of red glowed from the apples that sat in the vases at the base.

Messages painted on the side walls offered warm invitations: “Gather here in peace,” said one. “If you are here for wine and song, welcome,” said another.

The exquisite tableware on display was eventually cleared away and the tables were reset for dinner. Blackwell and Elizabeth Hooker, representing Beringer, joined seven of us already seated at the Beringer table. On the menu was a starter of thyme-roasted salmon, vegetable pearls and fig gastrique, followed by an entree of beef short rib (no knife required) on sweet potato purée with roasted asparagus.

The sumptuous meal was accompanied by Beringer’s Private Reserve wines, including the 2004 Merlot, the 2006 Chardonnay, and 2004 Cabernet (my personal favorite for its dark berries and toasted oak). We ended with the winery’s sweetbotrytis wine, composed of 70% Sémillion and 30% Sauvignon Blanc, from 2004.

As I sat among the cocktail dresses and designer suits, and the friendly caterers who tended to the details that made the evening luxurious, I ran my hand across the tabletop.

Thick unfinished cedar served as the table itself. I felt the grains of the wood against my palm, a sensation that was unexpected and extraordinary amid such glitz, but it was this contrast, this blend of elegance and earth, that distinguished Blackwell’s table from all the others.

Stunning look-at-me centerpieces stood side-by-side with bare wood with exposed knots. Earth tones quietly made their presence felt just feet away from the hot pink lighting of other displays. Blackwell himself seems to embody this earthy elegance as well – handsome and impeccably put together, but also warm and thoughtful.

These natural elements in the design – the roughness of the table, the knots in the wood –served as reminders of the nature that nurtures the wine served that evening.

“People forget that winemakers are farmers,” Blackwell said. “My grandparents were farmers,” hinting at an understanding and respect for the earthy roots of the ultimately refined wine.

Proceeds from the gala event, now in its eleventh year, go to DIFFA and to local organizations that fund AIDS research and services in the host city, in this case the Community Research Initiative of New England.

“The worst message we can send is that we’ve solved the problem of this virus,” Blackwell said. “It still claims so many lives and there’s a lot more work to be done.”

On this particular occasion, a vineyard and its wines helped fund that work.