Last week I took a whirlwind 30-hour trip to New York City to attend an event where wine was to be paired with furniture. Imagine! I couldn't. So I had to see it for myself.
The event was held at the Flatiron Design Collective on West 21st St. (There was a minor snafu when I received 2 separate email confirmations with 2 separate addresses, but I am not easily beaten by that sort of thing.) The Flatiron Design Collective is comprised of 3 different businesses that share a showroom.
The first is JLCreate, which is John Lyle's company. I had to pleasure of meeting and talking with John and learning just a little bit about his design process. He designs luxury furnishings and accessories and approaches design with a sculptor's eye.
John Lyle and Cleo the dog. Fromental wallcovering behind us and in the small office.
It was fascinating to learn the different mediums (media?) he works in: metal (all kinds of finishes), wood, shagreen, glazed linen in all kinds of colors, tobacco leaves and cow bone. COW BONE, you say? Yes, it sounds so strange but John mostly uses it as an inlay. It looked a bit like ivory. And tobacco leaves? I asked him if he was from Virginia, and he said no, Mississippi. The tobacco had the look of veneered wood on table tops. It was all gorgeous. You've heard of a bed of nails? Well here is a table made of nails:
JL Create table made of nails. CL Curated rug.
Underneath the table is a rug from CL Curated, which designs and creates site specific rugs. I wish I had learned more about CL Curated while I was there. The samples were beautiful, in rich graphics and saturated colors.
The third collection in the Collective was Fromental, maker of swoonworthy handmade wallpapers and fabrics. The pictures do not do this collection justice. Think about silk, which is hand painted and then hand embroidered. After paper backing it, it is applied to the wall. Some of the embroideries included beads, making a unique 3-D wallcovering that is truly a work of art!
On to the wine pairing! Adam Japko of Esteem Media led this unique presentation. Adam writes the blog Wine Zag (click
here) He's a super friendly guy whom I've met several times before. Adam has a open minded approach to wine tasting, with an easy going curiosity.
Adam Japko discussing a slide. Fromental wallcovering in the background. All furniture and accessories by JL Create.
He was sent several pictures of John Lyle's furniture to which he had to assign a wine. So, unlike pairing wine with food, he tried to assign wines that spoke the same language or had a similar quality to a piece of furniture. His insights were engaging and dynamic. For instance he paired a wine with a specific table because they both "make you think". (I think he meant they were complex.) In any case, the whole event "made me think". So many elements of any art form, be it furniture making, painting, wine making, sculpture, music or food, are similarly described. They
conjure emotion.
Elizabeth Ralls, Editor in Chief of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyle magazine was also on hand to show examples from the pages of the magazine for the various styles of furniture.
Here are the wines we tasted:
I wish that I had the slides to show you what was paired with what. But I wouldn't remember anyway
! I was a little preoccupied drinking the wine!
Click on the links to see some truly inspirational people and products.
CL Curated
JL Create
Fromental
