Hello, friends! It’s been a while, but this has been well worth the wait. I opened my inbox the other day and found that Abbey, our photographer, had finished and posted our photos to her site. I was (am) over the moon with excitement. She was kind enough to let me share a few favorites here, but you can get the full version on her blog Abbey Hepner Photography.
In the meantime, let me show you a few of my favorite details and moments from the day.
We shot at several locations including the Durango Train Station, The Irish Embassy Pub, and Andrew’s parents house. The places were so different, each created it’s own narrative for us to enjoy and relax into. It was fun.
I designed an “edible bouquet” filled with mostly seasonal produce and fun things from the farmer’s market and grocery store. Working with a visionary florist at Wildwood Flowers, a unique and beautiful bouquet was born! I also designed what I called “salsa boutonnieres” for all the guys to wear. They were made with chili’s, oregano, and other fun ingredients that would normally go into a salsa. Plus they popped with amazing color, something I was going for to compliment the gorgeous, austere mountain backdrop.
For the guests gift, I hand made ceramic bowls. I think the best part was that all 50 were unique in shape, so no one received the same bowl. Initially I wanted to make them porcelain, but the kiln I had access to didn’t fire that hot. They were a hit and really lovely on the tables. The florist also made the little red “poppies” out of cut paper and real Black Eyed Susan centers that the guests could take home. More color!
My ring is a Victorian piece (early to mid-1800′s) we got at Anoinette’s in Portland before we left. The center is turquoise ringed by tiny diamonds. Initially, it wasn’t used as an engagement ring, but I like the idea of weaving the past and present while creating something altogether new. My band is a simple, solid gold circle and also an antique.
We had great food catered by The Yellow Carrot. (If you are ever in Durango, make sure you eat here for lunch!) Our menu was southwestern/Mexican, a favorite amongst the crowd. We even had margarita’s as our cocktail!
The best surprise of the night was all the guests had compiled their favorite recipes, photos, and stories into a book for us. I was speechless and beyond touched!
I also made a hula hoop with ribbons tied all around it. Initially, I wanted to hang it for us to get married by or under (as opposed to a traditional archway with flowers). But things change and it ended up being a lot of fun during the dancing. Think giant maypole with the bride and groom inside!
My dress was made by a lovely pair out of LA, Alix and Kelly. The great little faux-mink coat I’m wearing I found at Nordstrom. To see the rest of the pictures and more of Abbey’s gorgeous work, check out her site here. Cheers!
I first ran across Tattfoo Tan’s work via his Nature Matching System (NMS), his aesthetic interpretation of eating your daily dose of color. (If you live in Brooklyn, you may have seen his NMS mural in DUMBO in 2008). Inquisitive, insightful, community-centric, ridiculously creative, ephemeral, and of course food related, Tatto’s work embodies everything that pushes the food + design envelope. His projects range from large scale city murals, to community events and gallery installations. Today I’m sharing with you just a sampling from his vast tomb of projects, a few of my favorites. His work is approachable for people from countless cultures, generations, and socioeconomic backgrounds; Tattfoo has an uncanny way of boiling issues down and even inserting a playful humor into an array of digestive mediums/formats. Pickling (aka: preserving) memories; The Nature Matching System place mat; these are but a few of the thoughtful, spirited, and provocative projects that Tattfoo creates which speaks to larger social issues such as the immigrant experience and community building.
After daily treks to his local farmers market in New York City, Tattfoo decided it was time to make a connection between the array colors in food and their nutritional value. He explains “the shades of color displayed at farmers’ markets are more than skin deep, reflecting the inner potential of every fruit and vegetable; intense colors might even be called nature’s nutrition labels. They get many of their colors from phytonutrients, compounds that play key roles in health and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. The more colors come together at a meal, the better. Sadly, marketers of junk food apply the same technique used by nature to pollinate seed to their nutrition-deprived product. Color is a device that can do good or be deceptive and ensure the pollination of unhealthy eating habits.” This has been a prevailing theme in the food and nutrition world, but less so in the art and design world. I appreciate the connection that Tattfoo is making for the general public and it’s actually a simple message: eat a rainbow of colors, you’ll be healthier.
The murals in DUMBO and in NYC’s Port Authority were visually stunning with a deeper meaning. The artist liked the fact that the big, bold colors could act as a surface beautification project, but if passers-by decided to take a moment and read into it, they’d be surprised by the vast depth of research and information the project holds as well; a verifiable win-win.
Tattfoo had children from a local school paint each square for the DUMBO mural while simultaneously teaching them about the importance of color in their food. He’s also created a series of illustrated vegetable/fruit pdf’s for people to print out and give to their kids to color. He encourages them to hang it on the refrigerator for both enjoyment and a colorful reminder.
Pickled Memories: Cuisine du Jour
This project focused on the “heart and soul” of any culture: food. Immigrants in any new city tend to put down roots through their kitchens and dining room tables, cooking their native foods as a way to ground themselves in their new home. Tattfoo believes “food sharing is the most basic social interaction. No matter the culture or ethnicity, sharing a meal with a friend or guest is the most welcoming gesture one can offer. It has the ability to transcend language, encourage dialogue and promote not only tolerance, but understanding and cultural exchange as well.” Quite simply, everybody eats.
The artist had an open call to collect mementos from all over the world, which were then photographed with a Polaroid camera and placed in a jar filled with preserving agents such as oil, sugar, and vinegar. The Polaroid in particular was used because of the films’ transformational nature and the series of chemical reactions it goes through to finally show an image. Fermentation or food preservation also goes through a series of chemical reactions; in both situations color changes, decay occurs, and everything is in a state of change. Finally, memory, photo, and food is lost to time and consumption.
This was a project done for the Staten Island Council on Arts and Humanities newsletter. He compiled a booklet of recipes from first generation or decedents of immigrant families, with a focus on what each considered home-like comfort foods. Recipes, photos, illustrations, stories, and explanations of unknown ingredients were all part of this comprehensive taste of home.
Thank you, Tattfoo for your fantastic work!
All photos by Tattfoo Tan via his website http://www.tattfoo.com/.
Pop-up restaurants are nothing new. They’ve been happening in major cities like San Fransisco, Sydney, New York, Portland, and London for years, but are gaining in popularity. They are a fantastic concept which I wholeheartedly applaud, and have even created a few myself. However, with the pop-ups’ new celebrity status, I find that a lot of what I’m seeing out there is a watered down version of what they were originally intended to be: a dining experience. I wanted to share with you a few pop up’s who are all about the eating encounter—the food, the location, the setting, the mood, the design—all of it. I’m interested in people who are creating and designing something different for each food experience, not just doing a one off evening at a fancy (or not so fancy) restaurant. A combination of good design, lots of detailed thought, and of course fantastic food I hope will influence the trend of today’s and future pop-ups.
What Happens When…
Photo via What Happens When…
This group has been all over the media lately from the New York Times to Food 52—and rightly so. They are an incredible cast that includes one chef, two designers, a photographer, and a composer. It’s a culinary experience that changes every thirty days for nine months, giving guests an “ever changing culinary, visual, and sound experience.” Actually, it does a lot more than that. This experiment is (hopefully) changing the pop-up landscape with their innovative and jealousy-provoking designs/food. It’s not only an experiment for our food culture, but the food + design world at large; the What-Happens-When crew will be flexing their creative muscles like there’s no tomorrow to the fervor of something akin to grad school. That much change over a short amount of time provides this team the design constraints, adrenaline, and verve to create what most designers can only dream of—and they’re living it. The fact that it’s temporary gives them much more license to do whatever it is they want, create unforgettable experiences and when it’s over, the next-step possibilities are still endless. They are a prime example of elevating food + design and the dining experience to it’s rightful and ephemeral place here in the U.S.
“Move over Swedes; it’s Findland’s turn to make waves,” read a recent review of this now long gone pop-up restaurant. This is a great example of a pop-up that is absolutely all dining experience, and necessarily so. It was held during the London Design Festival last autumn and offered “a taste of both Finnish food and design.” This was a spectacular way to interplay the two disciplines and introduce them as one to a world where food isn’t necessarily thought of as design. Photos via We Worship Bears
Sensorium is a group of performance artists, musicians, and a chef who are taking the dinner theater experience to a whole new level. In fact, they are the only pop-up restaurant I’ve found who have a theatrical component as part of it’s foundation. The Chef of Sensorium, Bryon Brown, has been hosting successful supper clubs through his own Artisa Kitchen for several years now. However, after creating unique experiences each month for his guests, the feedback he was getting was: we love this, but we want something totally unique and off the wall too. Thus, the wild-child of Artisa Kitchens, Sensorium, was born. This group “combines the culinary arts with the visual/performing arts into a production that unfolds over a 12 course tasting menu complete with wine pairings.” Their next pop up restaurant event is going to be held in a radical looking Geodesic dome on the East Lawns at Yard Park on the Capital Riverfront, Washington D.C. in April. I want to go.
Mess: A one-night-stand food still life
Jono Cane and Kate White are Johannesburg artists who are “food curators.” They explain their food experiences are “NOT like a restaurant; It’s like art (with a lower case) and Design (with an upper case). It’s definitely about being generous and not so much about making money. Mostly it’s a pain in the butt; but often it’s lovely. Because we haven’t figured it out we’ll keep eating till we do or till we don’t want the answer anymore.” Their next food concept is moving away from messiness towards a focus on structured compositions via British, Dutch, and Scandinavian food. Cane says “the concept is Still Life: honest, balanced and lyrical; inspired by old masters, Flemish still-life paintings and thinking about a life that is, well, still.” Photo via timeslive.co.za
Based in Berlin, this group of international young chefs are bringing to the pop-up culture food that speaks. Their motto is: It’s not a pop-up restaurant, this is a dining experience. I love the motto and explanation of their cuisine, “where neighborhood snack culture meets Michelin stars. Fresh ingredients. Seasonal. Regional.” Quite catchy, simple, straight forward and instantly makes me want to experience their events. That is if I can get to Berlin while they are still around…
Next time you read about or see another pop-up restaurant, notice if it’s been Disney’d or if it’s a genuine expression of a group of talented people. Then share your experience with everyone you know to show your support of the true pop-up as well as the passionate artists/designers/chefs/musicians who collaborated to make it happen.
