Issue № 14 WINTER 2014 $12.00 U.S.
A LOOK AT TRANSFORMATIONS BIG AND SMALL
1
EDITOR’S
Letter
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A NEW YEAR
Anh-Minh Le Editor in Chief
COURTNEY APPLE
to get us thinking about changes we’d like to make or things we’d like to accomplish. At the top of my to-do list four years ago: launch a print magazine. In January 2010, Meg Mateo Ilasco and I met up to discuss ideas for what would eventually become Antholog y, and a couple of months later we traveled down to Los Angeles for our first shoot. That was the official beginning for us—and now here we are with 14 issues under our belts! Given our own foray into magazine publishing, it’s no surprise that Meg and I have a deep appreciation for others who forge a new path for themselves—whether professionally, personally, or both. The pages of this issue are filled with such people. For instance, there’s the Manhattan couple—an advertising art director and a physician—who now run an organic farm and mercantile in upstate New York (“Back to Basics,” page 23). There’s the one-time clarinet performance major whose experiences as both a renter and a design firm employee prompted her to start a firm that offers removable wallpaper (“Pattern Recognition,” page 79). Her creations are perfect for anyone considering a change to their interior, even if it’s just temporary. Also on the home front, those of you who enjoy before and after depictions will be pleased: this issue includes a number of residences that have undergone transformations— from California to the Netherlands.
Looking to add to your culinary repertoire? “The Global Table” (page 46) provides a lesson in three cuisines. We tag along with cooks who specialize in Indian, Japanese, and Burmese dishes as they shop for ingredients, and also share their delicious recipes. Our entertaining feature, “A Fusion of Flavors” (page 119), explores another food genre: Afro-Asian. While change is sometimes a choice, other times it’s thrust upon us. Case in point: New Orleans, the city profiled in the travel memoir, “The Embrace of New Orleans” (page 83). It’s been years since I’ve been there, but after reading the feature—written by a local—I’m eager to experience NOLA again. (Maybe that should be on my to-do list for 2014.) Whatever changes are in store for you this year, I hope they lead to bigger and/or better things down the road. As far as Antholog y goes, I’m optimistic that we can continue to uphold the principle that Meg and I went into this believing—that print is not dead—while evolving the magazine. For example, since its inception, we’ve increased our food content. We’ll no doubt keep tweaking things as we strive to deliver the best possible publication that we can. It’s been a great three years, and here’s to many more.
2
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
Contents Winter 2014
FEATURES
BACK TO BASICS
HOMEWARD
RENOVATION RESCUE
23
After buying a farm, two Manhattanites uproot themselves and start anew.
OPEN TO CHANGE
101
An architect transforms an L.A. bungalow to better reflect its creative inhabitants.
THIS OLD HOUSE
THE EMBRACE OF NEW ORLEANS 83 BRIGHT SPOT 109 A writer recalls her initial, as well as contin- In Amsterdam, a tumbledown home is revived ued, enchantment with the Crescent City. with color, pattern, and elbow grease. READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP
A FUSION OF FLAVORS
92
A photographer turns a “Victorian shack” into a stylish living and work space.
THE GLOBAL TABLE
A MODERN RENAISSANCE
46
Explore the ingredients and dishes of three cultures: Burmese, Indian, and Japanese.
DIVERSIONS
CALL OF THE WILD 66 With its fragrances and products, a Berkeley company seeks to capture the great outdoors.
43
An aging abode provides plenty of stories—real and imagined—along with a big to-do list.
119
The menu for an Oakland dinner party blends elements of Asian and African cooking.
34
For a Bay Area pair, moving a short distance results in big lifestyle changes.
PATTERN RECOGNITION 79 A business that specializes in removable wallpaper draws on its owner’s artistic genes.
THE RIGHT MIX
57
A San Francisco interior designer and prop stylist balances the past and present in her decor.
72
Paris’ Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood has come a long way over the past decade.
IN EVERY ISSUE
EDITOR’S LETTER SHOPKEEPERS’ PICKS
8 |
SCREEN PLAY COURTNEY APPLE
CONTRIBUTORS
5 |
MAKING THE MAGAZINE
MARKET REPORT
10 |
CONVERSATION Molly Andrews
2 |
20 |
RESOURCES
131 |
BY THE BOOK
PRIZED POSSESSION Jeanine Hays
6 12
133
136
Cover Photograph by COURTNEY APPLE Cover Lettering by CHRISTINE RÖSCH 3
Conversation Molly Andrews was working in the education field when, about eight years ago, she turned her attention to more creative pursuits. Tapping into a long-held affinity for furniture and textiles, she launched Chairloom (chairloom.com), which specializes in revamping chairs, settees, sofas, and ottomans. Then in 2011, one of her good clients, Tracy Jenkins, joined her in the business. “Chairloom functions as a team of people with different skills and abilities—upholsterers, designers, seamstresses, builders, refinishers, shippers, and an (over-qualified) intern, plus two owners who wear many hats,” says Molly. Its Philadelphia-area showroom is teeming with furniture in varying stages of transformation. “We love many styles of antique and vintage furniture and have an eclectic inventory,” says Molly, pointing out a five-piece mid-century sectional and a set of carved Eastlake dining chairs. “As far as textiles go,
Photographs by COURTNEY APPLE Styling by BARBARA BOTTING
4
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
we are drawn to anything with a handmade look or texture.” Not surprisingly, Molly’s home, located near her business, is outfitted with Chairloom pieces. “I see my home as a place for my children, dogs, and me to relax and regroup daily,” she says. “I’ve always felt strongly that one should fill their home with furnishings and art that makes them happy—happy colors, happy patterns, happy mementos, happy images.”
In the Chairloom showroom, a sofa upholstered in John Robshaw’s Chowk and a footrest covered in Jasper Conran’s Sprig Floral—both client projects—sit atop wood floors stenciled by Ilene Pearlman.
5
ing in shows locally, we were noticed by DailyCandy and Philadelphia magazine—which led to interest by several New York-based blogs. In early 2008 I got a phone call from one of Brooklyn Flea’s founders, Eric Demby. He encouraged me to participate in their opening day as a member of Design*Sponge’s curated group. There was an incredible turnout of about 7,000 people and press galore. For about a year, I participated as a vendor at Brooklyn Flea to establish a base of interest. The feedback from the crowds was always so positive and helped me to press on as a small business owner. Clockwise from left: Molly
Andrews is the owner of Chairloom, along with Tracy Jenkins (not pictured). Chairloom offers a curated selection of textiles. The showroom is in Ardmore, a suburb of Philadelphia.
PARTNERING UP: Tracy Jenkins and I had the EARLY INFLUENCE: I’ve always had a special
interest in furniture and textiles. My maternal grandmother, Dorothy DuPuy Taggart, had a great influence on me in this regard. She pointed out details in art and nature, as well as in antiques, books, and clothing. She collected unique pieces for her homes—such as a hand-carved Austrian cuckoo clock, a colorful ceramic chandelier from Portugal, and hand-painted porcelain boxes from England. She made my sisters and me life-size Raggedy Ann dolls and dressed us in matching Florence Eiseman party dresses and shoes. She is a self-taught master of needlepoint, crochet, knitting, and gardening—to name a few of her exceptional talents and interests. STARTING UP: Chairloom started locally in Phil-
adelphia in 2006 almost as a creative impulse that put me in tune with the entrepreneur that I am. I cold-called artist Virginia Johnson’s office and asked to purchase her tote bag remnants to use on some chairs. Chairloom piggybacked onto a local jewelry trunk show with five reupholstered pieces of furniture, and introduced the idea to a small group of neighborhood women. Next, participat14
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
opportunity to get to know each other over the course of a year and a half because she was a Chairloom client; we built a unique friendship and rapport. She and her husband bought a house in upstate New York that needed furnishing, and she wanted pieces that she could have reupholstered in the textiles she loved. She officially became a co-owner in 2011. I knew she was passionate about textiles and furniture design, and I felt encouraged and inspired by her ideas and style. I was eager to grow Chairloom but felt that flying solo was limiting and overwhelming. Partnering with Tracy has been one of the best decisions of my life.
“I’ve always had a special interest in furniture and textiles.”
A display of patterns is both practical (clients can easily view some of their choices) and beautiful (enlivening the showroom’s white walls).
7
CALL WILD of the
A Northern California-based outfit rethinks the practice of making fragrances, relying on nature and foraging trips Text by JENNIFER DUARDO Photographs by JEN SISKA
O
f the five senses, smell is said to be the most powerful. It’s often tied to a memory, evoking a sense of place or conjuring vivid imagery and deep emotion. It comes as no surprise, then, that crossing the Plumas County line into California’s Northern Sierras, my first instinct is to lean out the car window, close my eyes, and inhale deeply. There is an instant feeling of relaxation as the intoxicating rush of warm, woodsy air fills my lungs. I’ve left city life behind to embark on a camping excursion with the Juniper Ridge crew (juniperridge.com). I’m excited to experience the art of “wildcrafting,” as the Bay Area company’s founder refers to the plant harvesting and scent experimentation that is at the heart of its natural fragrance-making process. While some people equate fine fragrance with the sleek bottles of synthetic perfumes found in department stores, Juniper Ridge founder Hall Newbegin has always preferred natural scents. An avid hiker and backpacker, Hall has spent most of his life traversing the rugged and diverse West Coast, developing an intimate knowledge of each varied landscape. “I always saw the world through my nose,” he says. “When I was on the trail, I’d smell everything and wonder, Why isn’t there stuff out there that smells like this?” Now, thanks to Hall and his Juniper Ridge line, there is indeed such stuff out there—soaps, incenses, sprays, and colognes based on the essences of the Siskiyou region, for instance. A self-described “accidental perfumer,” Hall’s passion for the natural world prompted him to move from Berkeley to Bisbee,
Left to right: Juniper
Ridge founder Hall Newbegin, along with his wife, Laura Boles, and daughter, Jane, inhale the citrusy scent of white fir needles. The company’s media director, Obi Kaufmann, takes shade behind a truckload of cedar.
Above and below: Hall and
Obi take a break after a long day of wildcrafting. Juniper Ridge’s Cascade Glacier cabin spray.
68
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
Arizona, in the spring of 1997; there, he studied at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. One day, while sitting in a lecture, he found himself pondering how to make a soap that embodied the smells of a hike he just went on. Later that year, when he returned to Berkeley, he started experimenting with soap making in his kitchen. He sold his goods at the local farmers’ market, where his success soon led to the founding of Juniper Ridge. Hall runs the business with his wife, Laura Boles. He is the dreamer, while she is the practical one whose savvy and foresight have played a large role in the company’s viability and growth. Since its inception in 1998, Juniper Ridge has gradually expanded and now employs about a dozen people.
What first drew me to Juniper Ridge’s wares was the simple yet beautiful packaging—clean and modern with a retro camping feel. Upon learning more about the firm and its methodology, my interest grew. Each product is stamped with a harvest number, which is roughly analogous to a wine vintage. Just as a Napa cabernet may not taste the same year to year, the Juniper Ridge scents are ever changing, depending on the local conditions and harvest time. On the company’s website, you can search your harvest number and view photos of where a particular fragrance was conceived. While the nature of the business is specific to the West, according to Hall, the experience is universal. “Even if you’ve never been to the Sierras or Big Sur, that’s irrelevant,” he
maintains. “Someone that’s never been west of the Mississippi might smell this and say it reminds them of camping when they were a kid, or the smell when their dad cut the lawn. Memory is the language of fragrance.” During our foraging trek, the first stop is deep within a dense area of Tahoe National Forest. There, we meet up with Leslie Smith and Pablo Garcia Martinez, members of Juniper Ridge’s wildcrafting field team who are sustainably harvesting plants and piling them into a large green truck to bring back to the workshop in Oakland. They carefully trim underneath cedar trees, removing what they say is basically fuel for wildfire and would eventually be cleared by the forest service. This is the bounty that will become part of the Yuba River regional blend. Even though there is a large pile of greens in the truck, the actual output depends on local conditions, elevation, and precipitation; these cuttings could result in a good amount of essential oil or almost nothing. For better or for worse, wildcrafting is subject to the fluctuating moods of nature. As we wander through the trees, various plants with strange and exotic names—kitkit-dizze, pennyroyal, mugwort—are brought to my attention. We then head to the campsite to witness the early stage of one of the techniques Juniper Ridge employs in scent experimentation: distillation. As we pitch our tents, the company’s media director, Obi Kaufmann, sets up a makeshift whiskey still; all of its tubes and funnels give off a “mad scientist” vibe. He stirs his stew of kitkit-dizze, cedar, and Douglas fir in a large pot over the fire, the ingredients emitting a lovely, heady aroma. The process is similar to steaming vegetables. In this case, the fragrant steam and oil from the pot runs through a condenser and separates—resulting in an essential oil that will be an ingredient in products such as the cabin spray.
This page, counterclockwise:
Pablo Garcia Martinez hard at work. Obi adds foraged kitkit-dizze and cedar to a pot. He then cooks his “fragrance stew” over a campfire.
The Juniper Ridge scents are ever changing, depending on the local conditions and harvest time.
69
Text by ANNA WATSON CARL Photographs by BEATRIZ DA COSTA
A MODERN RENAISSANCE My introduction to the Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood was in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie. I was living in Paris at the time, taking classes at La Sorbonne, and I was mesmerized by the cinematic depiction of the tree-lined canal, with its placid waters and charming iron footbridges. In one of the film’s most iconic scenes, the title character, played by Audrey Tautou, skips stones along the water’s surface from one of the canal’s bridges as a waterfall cascades behind her. In all of my wanderings through Paris at that point, I had yet to discover this hidden slice of the city. Once I ventured over to the canal, I quickly realized that there was a reason why I had never been to this quartier: at the time, it wasn’t exactly tourist-friendly. Stretching through the 10th arrondissement—wedged between the Gare de L’Est station to the west, Place de la République to the south, and the working-class Belleville neighborhood to the east—Canal Saint-Martin was definitely more seedy than scenic. It seemed a far cry from the enchanting backdrop for Amélie.
In Paris’ 10th arrondissement, the Canal SaintMartin area has been reborn and now buzzes with cool eateries, shops, and businesses
13
Built by order of Napoleon in the early 1800s to supply fresh water to Paris, the area had historically been a bit rough around the edges. When I initially visited it in 2001, graffiti tags marked the storefronts, and homeless men snoozed along the waterway. Inspired by cheap rents and the decidedly bohemian vibe, artists and students populated the locale, living and working out of former artisan ateliers. Despite the grit, there were already forward-thinking pioneers back then, like Cyril Bordarier, who saw potential in the neighborhood. The chef opened his cult wine shop-cum-wine bar Le Verre Volé in 2000, right off the canal. With just a few tables and walls lined with bottles, the concept was simple: you could purchase your bottle to take away, or for a small corkage fee enjoy it with a simple dinner. Word spread and Le Verre Volé became a destination, despite its somewhat sketchy environs. I first ate dinner there with a few friends in 2004, and was blown away: we feasted on fresh oysters from Brittany, a perfect baguette with salted butter, some local charcuterie and cheeses, and a few bottles of vin naturel (natural wine) recommended by the server, while the Rolling Stones blared through the speakers. Another pioneer, Marc Grossman, opened his vegetarian cafe, Bob’s Juice Bar, in 2006, when a tiny space across the street from his apartment went up for rent. “It’s not your picture-perfect Parisian postcard neighborhood,” opines the former New York City screenwriter about the area surrounding Canal Saint-Martin. “Eight years ago, things were kind of run down and you could sense the potential for growth and creativity—kind of like Williamsburg or Berlin. I felt like I was getting in on the ground floor of something big.” Specializing in coldpressed juices and bagel sandwiches, the original Bob’s Juice Bar was an instant success; today Marc owns several Bob’s spinoffs throughout Paris.
14
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
Fast forward to 2014, and Canal Saint-Martin has become the place to be, for both hip Parisians and visitors in the know. The transformation is incredible. In the past few years, some of the city’s best new restaurants, wine bars, shops, and galleries have opened up in the maze of streets surrounding the canal. Rue de Marseille and Rue Beaurepaire, forming a triangle just off the Quai de Valmy, have evolved into an unofficial extension of the Marais—the trendy neighborhood just south of the canal—with their selection of high-end fashion boutiques like Renhsen, Agnès B., and The Kooples. French and foreign entrepreneurs have flooded into the area, opening quirky businesses like Helmut Newcake, a gluten-free bakery founded by a pastry chef with celiac disease; Tuck Shop, an adorable cafe run by three Aussies with a dailychanging menu of homemade soups, salads, and baked goods; and Ten Belles, a sleek new coffee shop that makes one of the best cappuccinos in the city. All of these spots are mixed in among old-school butchers, fromageries, and tailors. Yet Canal Saint-Martin, for all of its newfound hipness, still feels refreshingly down to earth. During a recent trip to Paris, I wander along the Quai de Valmy on a sunny afternoon and marvel at the crowds of young people stretched out on the banks, sunning, smoking, and picnicking. The canalside cafes are bustling, and I manage to snag an outdoor table at Chez Prune for a glass of rosé and some prime people-watching. I continue walking up the Quai toward Rue des Vinaigriers, and pop in to Artazart to thumb through one of the city’s finest selections of art and photography books, before crossing
Canal Saint-Martin, for all of its newfound hipness, still feels refreshingly down to earth. This page, top to bottom:
Strawberry tartlets at Ten Belles. Artazart bookstore. Baker Christophe Vasseur outside his boulangerie, Du Pain et Des Idées. Opposite: Writer Anna
Watson Carl. Miniature sculptures and terrariums at Dante & Maria.
15
ready for its
CLOSE-UP Text by JENNIE NUNN | Photographs by KELLY ISHIKAWA | Styling by ROD HIPSKIND
WITH THE HELP OF A GOOD FRIEND AND ARCHITECT, A SAN FRANCISCO-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER BRINGS A DATED, RUNDOWN HOME BACK TO LIFE AND ADDS HER OWN TWIST
THERE’S ONE THING that immediately sets Thayer Allyson Gowdy’s
"BEFORE" PHOTOS BY THAYER ALLYSON GOWDY.
A fixer-upper in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood turned out to be a fiveyear renovation project for its homeowner.
San Francisco home apart from all of the other houses on the block: a bright, bubble-gum-pink front door. “Everyone always says ‘I love your door,’ and it’s really fun,” says Thayer, who, along with close friend and local architect Craig Steely, renovated the 1,200-square-foot Victorianstyle house. The transformation is immediately evident from the sidewalk: the duo updated the exterior with a stark, modern black façade; a fence and front steps made of ipe, a Brazilian hardwood; steel railings; and that striking hot-pink front door. “I’m drawn to the wooden shacks in Norway, and the front of the house is inspired by Scandinavian black homes in Sweden and Finland,” explains Thayer. “They are so simple, but bold and make a statement. It definitely echoes a modern house, but it’s not garishly cold. We wanted to give it a splash of color by adding a pink door.” But the now picture-perfect house in the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood didn’t exactly come without a major backstory. When she started house hunting in 2006, Thayer—a Connecticut native and lifestyle photographer (thayergowdy.com) whose work has appeared in publications such as Travel+Leisure, Martha Stewart Weddings, Real Simple, and Antholog y, as well as in ads for companies including Sony, Land’s End, and Verizon—knew she wanted to buy a fixer-upper. When she first laid eyes on the place, which was built in 1908, there wasn’t much curb appeal
“It definitely echoes a modern house, but it’s not garishly cold.”
18
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
"BEFORE" PHOTO BY THAYER ALLYSON GOWDY.
to speak of; the home’s stucco front had suffered from years of water intrusion. “When it rained, the water would go straight through to the garage, so the front stairs were rotting,” says Thayer. “It was like a little Victorian shack, but they had done so many bad revisions.” She initially lived in the basement unit (now her photo studio) and rented out the upper portion of the house while she considered all of the changes that needed to be made. “The backyard was bad, and the house had this shag carpet that went up all of the stairs, and the bathroom didn’t work. It was old-school and tired, but for me, it was perfect.” For the interior, Thayer drastically reduced labor costs by doing much of the work herself, with help from Craig (“Craig and I have been friends for ages, and he gave me the ‘bro deal’ since he surfs and so do I”) and her boyfriend, Scott Paterson. In the kitchen, basement studio, and living room, they painstakingly refinished and sanded the existing Douglas fir floors. The kitchen also benefited from several budgetfriendly alterations. “I couldn’t afford to redo the cabinets, so I painted all of the cabinets and replaced the weird, marbled green countertops with white Formica,” recalls Thayer. The backsplash is designed with white Heath Ceramics tiles that she hand-selected and collected from the “seconds” room at the company’s Sausalito store.
This page and opposite:
Since purchasing her home in 2006, Thayer Allyson Gowdy (shown above with her boyfriend, Scott Paterson, and terrier, Scout) has transformed the 106-year-old property, inside and out.
95
The dining room’s decorative elements include artwork by friends and pillows picked up in Mexico. The self-assembly light fixture is called Designist.
20
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
Renovation Rescue A Los Angeles bungalow that suffered from questionable design choices is redone right
Text by REBECCA BRAVERMAN Photographs by LAURE JOLIET Styling by SCOTT HORNE
It’s fitting that Claire and Jeremy Weiss have a skateboard ramp in their backyard. The two met back in 1995, when she frequented a skate shop in New Jersey that he was managing at the time. They attended the New England School of Photography together, got married, and are now jointly known by the professional moniker Day 19 (day19.com). Based in Los Angeles, the commercial photographers always shoot as a pair, and their award-winning portfolio includes campaigns for clients like Frye, Pepsi, and Converse. In 2007, on the hunt for a place to buy after several years renting in the Silver Lake area, the couple toured a series of notquite-right houses. As Claire recalls, they’d see a listing and think, “Oh, it’s a beautiful house, but,” she pauses, “there’s no yard.” The Craftsman bungalow they now call home managed to remain off their radar for 102
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
This page: While it still
has a traditional Craftsman bungalow exterior, inside, the home of Claire and Jeremy Weiss has undergone a modern facelift. Previous: In the Weisses’
dining room, a table from Room & Board is paired with Paul McCobb-designed Planner Group chairs that the couple restored. The painting is by Suzannah Sinclair.
This page: In redesign-
ing the kitchen, architect Barbara Bestor envisioned a more functional, entertaining-friendly space. (The chalkboard-painted Sub-Zero is also fun.)
a while, in part because it was listed as a one-bedroom plus. While the neglected dwelling hosted a hodgepodge of design choices that ranged from the questionable (peach sponge-painted walls, popcorn ceilings, unevenly applied chair rails) to the troublesome (a kitchen so small it verged on unusable, and a floor plan that was choppy and disjointed), it was not without its positives. Situated in bohemian Eagle Rock—an eastside neighborhood with small-town charm—it had a large backyard and bones that Jeremy and Claire knew could work with some TLC. But, busy with traveling for shoots and, later, parenthood (son Eli is now five years old and Liam joined the family in October), tackling house projects fell lower and lower on the to-do list. Finally, in 2011, Jeremy and Claire decided they needed help. Through a 103
“We were trying to make it feel more spacious and special.”
friend, graphic designer Geoff McFetridge, assistance came in the form of architect Barbara Bestor. The Weisses knew and loved Barbara’s aesthetic, and Barbara especially enjoys collaborating with creative types. “You know their place is going to become this social space with art people,” she says, “and that’s a big motivator to do something groovy and fun.” First up was spatial planning. “We’re pretty social people,” says Claire, explaining why they prioritized having a bigger communal space. So, with Barbara’s expertise, they reconfigured the layout of the house. “The intent was never to rip down the house,” says Jeremy. Barbara agrees: “Often when
24
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
you’re doing a remodel, there’s so much information coming from the existing house—just tons of DNA,” she says. “Part of the eclecticism in our body of work is because a lot of times we are responding to stuff that’s already there, and trying to roll with it.” That eclecticism yielded a home for Claire and Jeremy that still honors the Craftsman spirit, but has been updated for modern living. Along the way, Barbara solved some of the pesky problems in the house. An awkward pillar vanished from the living room. The staircase, stripped of its traditional balusters, went minimalist. To access the outside more easily, Barbara added a side door from the kitchen.
A FUSION OF FLAVORS A HUSBAND AND WIFE’S JOINT EPICUREAN ENDEAVORS HONOR THEIR AFRICAN AND ASIAN HERITAGES
Text by ANH-MINH LE Photographs by JEN SISKA Styling by CHANDARA PANACHONE Recipes by JIDAN KOON AND BRYANT TERRY
C
ooking has been a constant in Jidan Koon and Bryant Terry’s relationship. While she grew up in Berkeley and he in Memphis, they both have fond childhood memories of spending time in their grandmothers’ kitchens. “That was something that really connected us,” says Jidan, a visual artist (jidan-koon.com). She recounts a brunch she hosted soon after they met in 2006: “People brought food and then shared something creative after we ate. By coincidence, [Bryant and I] both shared poems about our grandmothers. I had written a poem about my grandmother shortly after she passed, and Bryant shared a piece about the songs his grandma sang while she cooked. Not only did we connect over food, but it also felt like we had a lot in common in terms of creative expression, politics, and closeness to family.” Jidan and Bryant have since purchased a 1920s Mediterranean-style bungalow in Oakland’s Laurel District; married in the home’s backyard; and welcomed daughter Mila (her full name, Funmilayo, is a Yoruba name that means “gift from God, God has brought me joy”). With friends coming over for dinner tonight, Jidan’s mother, Marilyn Wong, has offered to take care of three-yearold Mila so the couple can focus on entertaining.
120
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
This page: Bryant
Terry, Jidan Koon, and their daughter, Mila, in the family’s Oakland kitchen. Opposite: A table in
the backyard is set with pattern-rich dishes for the evening’s gathering.
MENU CRUNCHY BEAN FRITTERS FRESH SPRING ROLLS WITH BERBERE SWEET CHILI DIPPING SAUCE AFRO-ASIAN JUNG WITH SHOYU SAUCE SPICED PERSIMMON BUNDT CAKE WITH ORANGE GLAZE
27
PRIZED Possession Photograph by COURTNEY APPLE
“For as long as I can remember, I have loved this picture. It’s a photograph taken in the 1960s of a cousin of mine. With her beautiful dashiki and afro, this image was one of the first truly ‘AphroChic’ images that I ever saw. When the time came to shoot the inaugural catalog for our textile line, I knew I had to include it in the styling of an apartment we used as a location. To me, this photo
28
ANTHOLOGYMAG.COM
will always be the epitome of modern, soulful style—which is what our company is all about.” JEANINE HAYS , along with her husband, Bryan Mason, is the founder of AphroChic—a lifestyle brand featuring a home decor line and blog. Jeanine previously worked as an attorney, while Bryan is studying for a PhD in African Diaspora Studies. The couple recently released their first book, Remix: Decorating with Culture, Objects, and Soul. (aphrochic.com)