Background

Project Picnic started as a charity program between Input Creative Studio and Corse Design Factory. Every year, we choose a charity that we want to help, and we created a fundraising event in the city in the form of a picnic. We tapped into our network of designer friends, and we asked them to design and build a one of a kind picnic basket to be donated to the charity. These baskets are then sold to the public, and 100% of the proceeds go towards the charity. 

Picnic by Design 2012

The first Picnic we've ever done was for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). Thirty three designers participated in this inaugural event. The picnic was held at a rooftop of a high rise in Midtown Manhattan, with movie screenign by Forth Row Films. 

On top of the entire event branding, we also created a website that functions as an e-commerce, so the public can purchase the picnic basket, as well as the cocktail tickets. 

Picnic Basket - 2012

Outside of being an organizer, we also participated as one of the designers donating a picnic basket. We made our product design and fabrication skill to good use.

Our first picnic basket features a black box inspired by a bento box. Inside it, it contains a hand fired plates, hand painted picnic blanket, and lids that can turn into the serving trays. The box is then wrapped with custom typography that read "Let the good be great, and the bad be bearable" - a Buddhist philosophy. 

Picnic by Design 2013

Following the success of the first picnic, we did a second picnic project for DIFFA the following year. The picnic was held at the iconic Scholastic Building in SoHo, NYC. 

The poster features a humble installation we created in the Industry City warehouse in Brooklyn. Playing along with the prohibition theme, we also created a video in collaboration with Becky Yee (photographer) and Thom Robson (composer). 

Picnic Basket 2013

Our second picnic basket is a lot more lighthearted than the first one. Taking inspiration from an ice cream sandwich, we designed and fabricated a picnic basket that is both comical, yet functional. 

2017 basket

We took a break for a couple of years from Picnic even though our charity program runs every year. In 2017, we decided to kick start this project again. This time, we selected the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island as the charity partner. For them, we created a Picnic basket inspired by the Japanese Kusudama, the art of creating a ball of flowers made of constructed paper. The end result is a very playful picnic basket, that always brings a smile to whoever uses it. This picnic basket was then was auctioned and 100% of the proceed goes towards the charity.