"Mrs. Madrigal, in the Living Room . . . "

Dining by Design - JR Studio, Joel Robare

Greetings all,

I had the great pleasure of attending the "Table Hop and Taste" for Dining by Design a few weeks back with my good friend Mark Newman - and one of our clear favourites of the evening was the delightfully clever work of Joel Robare of JR Studio inspired by Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City." Having worked on Dining by Design the last several years - I'm well aware of the strict limitations of the project. Firstly, one has a tiny space in which to host 10 people for dinner. And one has about a day and a half to get the entire project installed - and ready to be seen. No, wait. Those are really the ONLY limitations. Outside of that - it's amazing to see a festival of creative minds running wild with ideas.

I can still remember the first time I read Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City," when I moved here to San Francisco in the late 80's. It's practically required reading for all new residents. The story revolves around the lives of a small group of San Franciscans in the 1970's and both 'pokes fun' and 'illuminates' life in our fair city during that evocative time. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a good hearty read over the holidays.

Here's some great shots of Joel's table (photography by Stephanie Penn) along with Joel's thoughts about his table and its inspiration . . .

JR Studio's Dining by Design concept for Hartle Media's 7x7 and California Home + Design magazines blended San Francisco legend with a fusion of design styles to create its "High Victorian" vignette. Inspired by Armistead Maupin's classic 'Tales of the City.'

"We created a living room evoking the bohemian chic of Anna Madrigal, the book's main character. Furnishings and decor were a passionate mix of Victorian antiques, courtesy of Coup D'Etat, mixed with decor and color story influenced by the 1970's."

"To further accent the literary theme, a column of books was created by SF based installation artist Wendy Earl. Her book tower was created one piece at a time over the course of 14 hours."

"In lieu of flowers, tea cups from Jacqueline Cambata's Shangri-la collection were filled with "magic" mushrooms and a platter of rolled white chocolate joints filled with marijuana colored sponge cake were created as if they were placed by Anna herself. The "sweet smokes" were created by Cake Works and provided the perfect ending to the gala evening's dinner."

And here's the evening 'in action' with a great interview with Joel by Sarah Lynch of California Home+Design Magazine . . . .

Cheers,

tartanscot