Riviere magazine
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Beautiful Bijoux from the Petit Palais The Dixon Gallery & Gardens brings Paris to Memphis for a glittering exhibition
Spring & Summer 2013
Splinters of the Stars Travis Bradley translates diamonds into the language of dance
First Love Bob Mednikow’s Sunbeam Alpine sparks a love affair
Bon Appetit A spring brunch becomes an Impressionist canvas of colorful dishes created by Chef José Gutierrez
M e m p h i s , Te n n e s s e e
S P R I N G & S U M M E R 2 0 1 3 • $ 4 . 74
© D. YURMAN 2013
T H E O R I G I N ATO R O F C U LT U R E D P E A R L S . S I N C E 1 8 9 3 .
To Our Friends Springtime in Memphis or Paris fills us with a sense of joy, so we decided to give our first Spring & Summer issue of Riviere a “French accent.” Spring arrives in Memphis this year with a stunning exhibition from the Petit Palais featuring fashion illustrations, watercolors, and wonderful examples of period jewelry from this renowned Paris museum. As lead
At Mednikow, we consider it our privilege to share a sense of
sponsor of this exhibit at the Dixon, we hope this article inspires everyone
joie de vivre
to spend a spring or summer day there.
you celebrate happy events.
and help
France always brings to mind great cuisine, so we asked chef extraordinaire José Gutierrez of River Oaks Restaurant to create a delicious brunch menu for a spring gathering. And complementing Jose’s recipes are French wines suggested by wine connoisseur Fredric Koeppel. It seems fitting to profile my father’s beloved 1955 Sunbeam Alpine. Inspired by the movie To Catch A Thief, he purchased it that year while he was in the army stationed in Germany, and the car accumulated many of its miles on the roads of France. Springtime also means spring break, and a recent trip took my family to Epcot Center’s faux French pavilion where we enjoyed a snack and posed for this photo. Obviously it was not the same experience I enjoyed while backpacking as a student, or later, when I accompanied a group from the Dixon to Paris, but it brought back memories that I shared with my wife and children. At Mednikow, we consider it our privilege to share a sense of joie de vivre and help you celebrate happy events like weddings and graduations, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, which give added meaning to the warm days of spring and summer. As you read through Riviere, we hope you’ll savor and enjoy the features and flavors that give this issue a special French flair and carefree style. Bon appétit!
Jay A· Mednikow
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Table of Contents
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15 A RIVER OF DIAMONDS The Bluff City and the romance of the riviere
38 BEAUTIFUL BIJOUX OBJETS D'ART FROM THE PETIT PALAIS A bewitching preview of the bejeweled show at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens
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FIRST LOVE Bob Mednikow's Sunbeam Alpine sparks a life-long love affair
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48 SPLINTERS OF THE STARS Carats, Clarity, Cut, Color — and Choreography. Travis Bradley of Ballet Memphis captures the magical qualities of diamonds in dance
52 THE MYSTIQUE OF LOCKETS
SPRING POTPOURRI: BIJOUX WE LOVE
Monica Rich Kosann muses on the allure of lockets and the secrets they hold
Pretty new designer looks for spring and summer
BON APPETIT: RECIPES BY JOSÉ GUTIERREZ An appetizing spring brunch reflects the colors of the season
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Contributors FREDRIC KOEPPEL Almost as much as drinking wine, I like choosing wine for other people to drink. It was a pleasure, then, to select appropriate French wines — all available locally — to accompany the Spring menu created by José Gutierrez, executive chef at River Oaks. And as much as I like writing about culture and the arts, it's as much a pleasure to interview someone as knowledgeable as Jay Mednikow, especially over a fine lunch and a glass of crisp Sancerre, concerning an exhibition of historic jewelry opening soon at Dixon Gallery and Gardens. I once wrote about all these concerns full-time for The Commercial Appeal and now do so on a free-lance basis, which means I get to stay home with the dogs that my wife and I have rescued, fostered and (inevitably) kept. My wine reviewing and commentary can be found on my award-winning blog biggerthanyourhead.net.
CHRISTOPHER BLANK A few years ago, before heading off to an NEA fellowship for dance critics, I took a crash course in classical technique from a former Ballet Memphis dancer. After an intensive month, the ballerina whipped me into shape. My upper back was rigid, my sides long, my arms perfectly rounded. Stiff as a soldier, I marched into that fellowship where I learned, to my newly classicallytrained body's horror, that all of our classes would be in modern dance. In writing this story, I've discovered diamonds are distinctly classical rocks. Diamonds have the lines and the lightness of a ballerina. Just ask choreographer Travis Bradley . . . or go see his work inspired by diamonds, “Splinters of the Stars.”
JEAN MATHEWS, writer, arts activist, and host of “Arts a la Carte” explains what makes her work as creative director at Mednikow so rewarding, “A huge part of the Mednikow tradition is that all beauty is to be treasured—whether it takes the form of a remarkable diamond or a symphony, they believe that the arts lift up a community. The stories in this issue of Riviere reflect Mednikow’s commitment and continuing passion for the arts in Memphis.”
JON W. SPARKS I'm a journalist who has covered entertainment, business, government and fascinating people in New York and Memphis since 1978. Good stories inspire us all, and Bob Mednikow has more than a few of them. He will tell you, "Good luck has always followed me," but Bob has always been savvy enough to make it easy for good luck to hitch a ride. Especially if it involves that snazzy 1955 Sunbeam Alpine.
Riviere
magazine Volume Four, Issue One Spring & Summer 2013
PUBLISHER: Robert M. Mednikow MANAGING DIRECTOR AND EDITOR: Jay A. Mednikow CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jean Mathews ART DIRECTOR: Melissa Ellis ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR: Marvin Yates
JAY ADKINS is a professional photographer and graduate of the University of Memphis whose work has been published and enjoyed in numerous publications. Jay shoots a variety of subjects for clients but his appetizing, glamourous shots of food have set mouths to watering all over the midouth. Jay notes, “Working with José Gutierrez is more like working with an artist than a chef. He sees food as color, as texture, and as a composition, which makes my job simple.”
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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Jay Adkins, Christopher Blank, Chad Mellon and Ron Saltiel EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS: Christopher Blank, Jean Mathews, Fredric Koeppel, and Jon W. Sparks A publication by Mednikow, 474 Perkins Extended, Memphis, TN 38117 • T: 901.767.2100 • E: riviere@mednikow.com Riviere is published by Creative Content by CMI, a division of Contemporary Media, 460 Tennessee Street, Memphis, Tennessee 38103 • www.contemporary-media.com and www.creativecontentbycmi.com ©2013, J. H. Mednikow & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Reproduction in whole or in part of any materials contained herein without the express written permission of J.H. Mednikow & Co. Inc. is prohibited.
A RIVER OF
Diamonds B y J ay M e d n i kow
There is probably not a piece of jewelry with a more apt and romantic name than the beautiful design known as the “riviere.” WHEN ASKED TO VISUALIZE A DIAMOND NECKLACE, MOST PEOPLE CALL TO MIND A CLASSIC RIVIERE NECKLACE, NOT KNOWING WHAT TO CALL IT OR THAT IT HAS A SPECIFIC NAME. And yet, once the French word for river is understood, it’s easy to imagine why it is called a riviere, for who has not experienced the breathtaking sight of sunlight broken into a thousand mirrors reflected in a river’s current? A river of diamonds is composed of a single line of graduated diamonds encircling the neck. It is flexible, and the platinum or gold settings are minimal, so the diamonds appear as a sparkling river flowing along the contours of the body. What could be more perfectly descriptive or more chic? Because of their flattering beauty and the magnificent manner in which they display the diamonds to their best advantage, riviere necklaces have been made for hundreds of years. There are endless variations. Usually, they taper with the largest diamonds in the front, but they can be uniform in size, or have differently shaped diamonds or even colored gemstones interspersed. So it’s easy to understand why we chose to name our magazine after the riviere diamond necklace. Riviere Magazine celebrates a union between Mednikow diamonds and the city we have loved for more than a hundred years, Memphis, a city whose view of the mighty and romantic Mississippi River will continue to inspire us all.
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Professional Dance Experience the innovative and thought-provoking work that brings new, inspiring ideas to life.
Ballet Memphis School Engage your mind, body and soul in a creative and nurturing environment.
Pilates Centre of Ballet Memphis Achieve your personalized fitness goals at Memphis’ only fully equipped and certified center for STOTT PILATES.®
Visit balletmemphis.org today.
Bijoux parisiens French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris APRIL 28 - JULY 21
4339 Park Ave.
Memphis
dixon.org
SPONSORED BY
Irene and Joe Orgill Margaret Oates Dixon Society
Karen and Dr. Preston Dorsett Nancy and Steve Morrow Marsha and Henri Wedell
Steve and Cindy Earles Gilmore Linda W. Rhea Billy Weiss, North Berkeley Wine
Buzzy Hussey Chris and Dan Richards
Artist Unknown, Portugal, Devant de Corsage, ca. 1760, Tourmaline, quartz, and silver, Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris Inv.: ODUT 01947, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2010
Edouard Halouze (dates unknown) Advertisement for Van Cleef et Arpels, 1920 Gazette du bon ton Color lithograph on paper Collection of the Petit Palais, MusĂŠe des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: LDUT 01255, Achat sur les arrĂŠrages du legs Dutuit, 2003
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Beautiful
Bijoux
Objets d'Art from the Petit Palais By Fr e d ri c Ko e p p e l P h oto s C o u r te s y of Th e D ixo n G a l l e r y a n d G a r d e n s
It’s easy to conjure the first time that Jay Mednikow visited Paris. College student, back-pack, checking off the sites that travelers have considered de rigueur since the time of the Lost Generation: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysées. THE SECOND TIME MEDNIKOW SAW PARIS WAS FAR DIFFERENT. This trip, which occurred in the early 1990s, was organized for a group by John Buchanan, then the director of The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, and accompanied by him and his wife Lucy. Never less than suave and knowledgeable, Buchanan was able to secure for his group a discreet after-hours tour of the Louvre; private visits to the top galleries; dinners with well-known collectors. “It was a magical experience,” said Mednikow, of the fourth generation to run the jewelry business founded by Jacob H. Mednikow in Memphis in 1891. “It changed the way I looked at art. I had taken art history classes in college, but to see the actual ponds of Monet’s water lilies, to see where the inspiration came from, made a huge difference.” The great learning experience in Paris
with Buchanan – who left the Dixon in 1994 and passed away at the end of 2011 – not only contributed to Mednikow’s aesthetic education but it cemented a relationship with the Dixon that has lasted to the present. Mednikow is sponsor of the exhibition “Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris,” opening at the Dixon on April 28. Jay Mednikow has been involved in the family business for twenty-three years full-time, but he took a few turns on the way, or as he said over lunch at Houston’s, where he has dined every workday for 20 years—yes, everybody knows his name, and his café Americano comes automatically— “I explored other avenues.” He worked on Wall Street, delved into advertising and even considered a career as a pianist, until he realized that practicing two hours a day was not nearly enough time to attain the necessary skill. Finally, he
understood that he loved fine jewelry, “for the intrinsic character and nature of it.” What is that character? You get the feeling that Mednikow could converse on the subject for hours. “Adornment fills a fundamental need,” he said. “Some form of adornment existed before clothing, whether it was shells or feathers or beads. It’s a statement of style and status and wealth. Jewelry is a
Alexis Falize (1811 - 1898) and Lucien Falize (1839 - 1897) Pair of Buttons, ca. 1867 - 68 Gold and enamel Wartski, London
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ABOVE: Georges Fouquet (1862 - 1957) after a design by Charles Desrosiers (dates unknown) Thistle Leaf Bracelet, ca. 1905 - 1909 Enamel, gold, diamonds, opals, and pearls Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: PPO 03585, Achat, 1937 LEFT: René Lalique (1860 - 1945) Wood Anemone Pendant, ca. 1900 Gold, diamonds, pâte de verre, and plique-à-jour enamel Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: ODUT 01948, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2010
very personal form of art. It has historical and aesthetic and sentimental value. A woman can generally tell you when she got every piece of jewelry in her life and what the occasion was.” Mednikow firmly asserts the connection between jewelry and art. “Just as in painting, the way a brushstroke glances across the canvas,” he said, “the way the polisher works to polish the gem makes all the difference. That has an immense influence on how the gemstone reflects light.” First, though, the piece of jewelry must be designed, growing from an idea in the maker’s imagination to a sketch and then a meticulous drawing – even in this age of computer-assisted design – and finally to its accomplishment as an individual object. Most important is the aesthetic element. “That’s what I do,” Mednikow said, “I make little works of art from jewels and
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precious metal. What makes a piece of jewelry extraordinary is the design and craftsmanship. Excellent design in any field stands the test of time. That’s why people consider jewelry as heirlooms and pass it down to their descendents.” Of course the most highly-regarded and sought after, the most precious, if not the most mysterious and downright mythic of gemstones is the diamond, a subject that brings a sparkle to Jay Mednikow’s eye the way that the mention of a 1939 Bugatti Type 57C piques the interest of a rare automobile collector. “Diamonds are unique,” he said. “They’re the hardest. They’re pure carbon, and they hold light in a way that no other gemstone does. A diamond doesn’t change. It’s a beautiful and very concentrated, portable form of wealth. A perfectly cut diamond is like a hall of mirrors. They’re all individual, all different.” And with a rueful smile, making fun of
himself a little: “I like pretty diamonds,” meaning not complicated, meaning simple, pure, meaning, if you can imagine this for a diamond, somehow both stunning and unpretentious. Having said that diamonds don’t change, however, brings in another topic, one exemplified in “Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris,” and that’s how, even if diamonds don’t change, fashion does. The exhibition, a collaboration between the Petit Palais and the Dixon, features about seventy jewelry objects ranging from the 17th to the 20th centuries and more than 200 drawings, fashion prints and photographs that illustrate transformations in style and fashion from the eras of Louis XIII to Napoleon, through the 19th Century to Art Nouveau and Art Deco. “Jewelry styles change as fashion styles change,” said Mednikow, “but more slowly. Fashion changes every season, but
Artist Unknown, France Amethyst Parure, 1820 - 1830 Amethysts and gold Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: ODUT 01955, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2011
"I realized that these were not so much objects of luxury or vanity or fashion but" — again echoing Mednikow — "little
works of art
— Kevin Sharp
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jewelry styles change over several seasons, and people don’t notice so much. It takes about ten years for people to see the change.” Even with that, there’s a caveat. “Diamond and gold jewelry changes more slowly.” Anyway, “even if a piece is a little dated, it can still be special.” Many of the pieces in the exhibition are far more ornate than jewelry design and fashion dictate today. “Those objects were designed for a specific niche audience,” Mednikow said, “basically the wealthy who could afford to buy such objects and had the means and opportunities to put them on display. After World War II, a general audience for jewelry emerged, and styles became simpler, more accessible.” Mednikow and Dixon director Kevin Sharp seemed to have the proverbial marriage made in heaven trope in mind when they echoed each other, separately, by describing Mednikow Jewelers’ sponsorship of the exhibition “a perfect match.” For Jay Mednikow, it was a matter, of course, of the show’s subject but also because, he said, “the Dixon is near and dear to my heart.” For Sharp, it was the chance to work with a well-known (and appropriate) local business and someone who “took a thoughtful approach” to sponsorship. “Bijoux Parisiens” represents the second collaboration between the Dixon and the Petit Palais, or as it is known officially, the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, which occupies an ornate edifice erected for the 1900 Universal Exposition. The first effort was “Jean-Louis Forain: La Comèdie
Parisienne,” which opened at the Dixon in June 2011. The Dixon and the Petit Palais both own extensive collections of works in various mediums and genres by the friend of Degas and mentor of ToulouseLautrec. “Since the pieces in the jewelry exhibition come primarily from the Petit Palais, and a few private collections,” said Sharp, “our part of the deal was the responsibility of publishing the catalog.” The full-color catalog offers essays by Gilles Chazal and Martine Chazal, the husbandand-wife curators who persuaded the Petit Palais to begin collecting jewelry seriously about fifteen years ago. Seeing the pieces for the first time at the Petit Palais, was a revelation for Sharp. “I realized that these were not so much objects of luxury or vanity or fashion but” – again echoing Mednikow – “little works of art.” Oddly, the museum has no dedicated gallery for its jewelry collection, so few people have seen the objects. In fact, having already been viewed in Japan and Italy, the exhibition’s only other venue is the Dixon. After July 21, the artifacts return to the vaults of the Petit Palais. It’s a shame that such precious jewelry is not always on display, though we appreciate the inestimable value of such a collection of costly adornment and the necessity of protecting it from the depredations of time, humidity and thieves. It’s a shame, also, that when this collection is exhibited it must be shown under the barriers of glass cases and illuminated by the glare of gallery lights. How much better to observe
TOP: Georges Lepape (1887 - 1971), "Am I Early?": Paul Poiret Theater Coat, 1913, Gazette du bon ton, 1913, no. 2, Plate 6, Color lithograph on paper, Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: LDUT 01255, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2003; MIDDLE: Frédéric Boucheron (1830 - 1902), after a design by Octave Loeuillard (dates unknown), Fern Brooch, ca. 1880, Platinum, gold, and diamonds, Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: ODUT 01935, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2008; BOTTOM LEFT: Georges Lepape (1887 - 1971), "Lassitude": Paul Poiret Dinner Dress, 1912, Gazette du bon ton, 1913, no. 1, Plate 8, Color lithograph on paper, Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: LDUT 01255, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2003; BOTTOM RIGHT: George Barbier (1882 - 1932), "Roses in the Night": Worth Evening Gown, 1921, Gazette du bon ton, 1921, no. 7, Plate 54, Color lithograph on paper, Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: LDUT 01255, Achat sur les arrérages du legs Dutuit, 2003; Pierre Edme Babel (1715 - 1775), after Nicolas Joseph Maria (date unknown - 1802), Plate: Ribbon Brooches, ca. 1765, Engraving on paper, ca. 1905 reprint, Private Collection
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ABOVE: Charles Jacqueau (1885 - 1968) Ring, ca. 1945 Graphite and gouache on translucent vellum For execution in diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and gold; Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: PPJAC 02328, Donation Jacqueau, 1998 LEFT: Charles Jacqueau (1885-1968) Devant de Corsage, ca. 1914 Graphite and gouache on translucent vellum For execution in diamonds, jade, pearls, and platinum; Collection of the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris; Inv.: PPJAC 01719, Donation Jacqueau, 1998
these exquisite and priceless items as they were meant to be seen, draped around the throats, wrapped around the wrists, dangling from the shell-like ears, decorating the slim fingers or fastened to the gowns of the women to whom they were given. Context is everything. No doubt the Cartier brooch of diamonds, sapphires and platinum, circa 1925, will be dazzling in its setting at the Dixon; how much more dazzling would it be pinned to the bodice of a Worth evening jacket also illustrated in the exhibition, but worn by a living woman, strolling, to extend our metaphor, along the Champs Elysées? The body contributes an ineffable quality of reflected beauty, relationship and, yes, temperature to the jewels that lie next to it. As John Keats, always keenly attuned to the finest sensuous detail, writes of his heroine Madeline in “The Eve of Saint Agnes”: “Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees;/Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one.” There will be, alas, no unclasping of warmed jewels at the Dixon, but visitors to the museum will forgo that private moment for the public pleasure of viewing treasures of great jewelry they otherwise would never see. 36 | R i v i e r e
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First
Love B y J o n W. S p a r k s
Some people merely drive cars. Others prefer to make a statement.
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Photo by Ron Saltiel
BUT FOR BOB MEDNIKOW, HIS RIDE IS EVEN MORE THAN A STATEMENT, it’s an eloquent declaration
Bob Mednikow, a 2nd lieutenant in the Army, was stationed in Germany in 1955.
on wheels, a maxim in motion, a transport élégant that bespeaks style, fun, culture and a love for excellence. It’s also a lifelong commitment that began as a boy and his car, and continues to this day as a man and his passion. Bob, of the Mednikow family that has sold jewelry in Memphis since 1891, would come in to work as a young man in the 1940s with grease under his fingernails from working on his car. His father would fuss at him, but to little avail. Fast forward to a decade after World War II and the story goes into overdrive. “I was a second lieutenant in the Army stationed in Germany in 1955,” Bob said. “I went to the post movie theater and saw the Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Grace Kelly was driving this car and I thought to myself, that’s the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen." It was a sapphire blue Sunbeam Alpine, a two-seat sports roadster with beautiful lines, and it impressed him so much that he went out the next day to buy one. And immediately, Bob ran into problems—this beauty was going to play hard to get.
“The dealer first told me that the car wasn’t being made anymore. I said, how is that possible, I just saw the movie!” The dealer reminded Bob that it had been a while between the film being shot and when it was released, and in that time, they’d stopped making the car. “I said, can you call other dealers? Maybe there’s one somewhere. So he got on the telephone and started calling all over Europe trying to find one. He finally got back to me and said nobody had one. They only made 3,500 of them and that’s all there were in the world.” Bob is not known for saying things like, “Oh, well, okay. Never mind.” And he didn’t this time. Instead he pressed further: “Surely someone has one on a used car lot or somewhere. Can you look further?” Just as Bob never gives up, it is also true that people find it difficult to say no to him. So the dealer kept at it and finally called the factory. “There’s one of them on a ship that’s in the English Channel right now,” the dealer said. “And it’s the last one ever made. If you give me a firm order, they’ll radio the ship and divert the car to Germany.” Bob knew his persistence would pay off. “I’ll take it!” SPRING & SUMMER 2013
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"I went to the post movie theater and saw the Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Grace Kelly was driving this car and I thought to myself, that’s the
So the prized Alpine, officially purchased on May 25, 1955 for $2,075, found itself offloaded at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, and Bob went to pick it up. It really was the last one the company made—No. 3501. They didn’t designate any car with the number 13, so that car was the last of 3,500, just as the dealer had said. “I took that car and broke it in very carefully,” Bob said. In those days, cars needed a break-in period, taking it slow and easy for several miles. When it finally was ready, Bob declared it was time to see what it would do. “I got it out on the Autobahn, the top down, and I opened it up.” Now the Sunbeam Alpine is not really
most beautiful
car I’ve ever seen.”
step on the gas and then hang on for dear life because it was like a rocket ship taking off.” And that’s how Bob found out he wasn’t the fastest man on the Autobahn, but he didn’t care. He was in love for life. Bob knew his tour of duty in the Army was going to be up soon and he wanted to have the car waiting for him when he got back stateside. He had it shipped home where it was picked up in the Brooklyn Navy Yard by his cousin
Bob and Betty in Frankfurt, Germany, 1961.
Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief.
a fast car. It was made for a man and a woman and their luggage to tour in. “It wasn’t made to race,” Bob said, “but it was successful in rallies, very sturdy and durable with a sporting body.” He continues: “So I took it out on the Autobahn, opened it up and got it up to 85 mph, put it in overdrive and it moved up to 100. Then it creeped further up to 106 and that was wide open on a level road and I probably had a tailwind going to get it that fast.” Then Bob looked in his rear-view mirror and saw a red spot. A red spot that got larger, and closer. “Sure enough, this red spot was the new Austin Healey 6, a six-cylinder engine on a little body, and anyone that cared about sports cars knew that with the 6, you’d let out the clutch,
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Marilyn who lived in New York. She was going to hang on to it until he got back, although there was some difficulty just getting it to move — at least for Marilyn and her husband. Bob explained: “The gearshift in the Alpine is the reverse of any normal gearshift. First gear is where reverse is in a normal car of that era, second is where third was, third was where second was and fourth was where first gear was, and overdrive was on the steering wheel. Four gears plus overdrive. Marilyn says she had to take the whole day off from work to pick it up and they
couldn’t figure out how to drive it back to where they lived in Greenwich Village. Her husband Alan finally figured it out enough to get it moving without stripping the gears.” They parked it in a nearby garage while Bob finished his tour in Germany. When he was discharged, he wanted to stay a while and see the continent. “I stayed until September at which time my money ran out. I’d purchased the plane ticket in advance, so I knew when my money ran out, I could get home. I landed in New York City with my passport and $8.” He called his cousin Marilyn and asked if she could put him up in her apartment. She told him to come on over, and the taxi ride back then from the airport to Greenwich Village was $7. “I didn’t have enough money to buy a meal with,” Bob said, “but my cousin fed me and I was able to get some money out of my bank account in Memphis.” Not all was well with the Sunbeam, however. When Bob went to get it out of the garage, he noticed a big dent in the rear bumper where it had been backed into a pole. “I told the guy at the garage that someone was careless in parking the car and whether he would accept responsibility. He said no, that’s what bumpers were for, to take the dents.” Bob, as you might imagine, was not about to give up. The garage man wanted $125 for three months of storage and Bob told him, “I tell you what, I’ll take the $125 and not hold you liable for the dent.” Bob got in his Sunbeam, drove off and never heard from the garage again. But he wasn’t out of New York yet. “I was driving down Broadway and it started to miss a little bit,” Bob said. “I pulled over and was reaching under the dashboard trying to reach the wires, but I pulled too hard and the whole wire harness came out. Now I’m at Broadway at 55th Street in this little foreign car and nothing is happening. I managed to get it pushed over to the side to work on it.” The situation was such that Bob had to remove the seats to get at the problem.
“I got it out on the Autobahn, the top down, and I
opened
it up.�
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“There’s a picture from the movie showing Cary Grant and Grace Kelly with the car and the seats taken out,” Bob said. “You could push a button, take them out and use them as beach chairs.” But Bob wasn’t chilling on a beach, he was wedged under the dash with a screwdriver in one hand, the car’s manual in another and his feet sticking up while he did some rewiring. “People are walking by looking at this scene in a little foreign car. Just another day in New York City.” He got it fixed, drove back to Memphis via Indianapolis, “and I’ve had the car here ever since.” Well, except for that 30-year gap when it was in a barn in Marked Tree, Arkansas. But how it got there involves another story of love. Bob was fresh out of the Army, had traveled Europe, acquired some snazzy wheels and was now where his destiny took him — back at the family business. In the mid-1950s, he was the newest generation of Mednikows at Mednikow Jewelry that had opened in Memphis in 1891. It was not just that Bob had a discerning eye for jewelry — he simply knew beauty when he saw it. The Sunbeam Alpine, for example. And then there was Betty. “I was working downtown in my office one day,” Bob said. “I was on the mezzanine and could see the showroom floor. I saw this girl coming in to the store and she was the most beautiful girl I ever saw in my life. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I stopped what I was doing and I went downstairs. Mr. Cardwell, who worked for us, introduced himself to her and saw me approaching. He said to me, ‘Would you like to help this young lady?’ “ Never was there a more obvious answer to a question. “I started talking to her and she had this beautiful soft Southern accent,” Bob said. “Her voice was like Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic — it was just unbelievable and I couldn’t believe anyone could be this beautiful.” As it happened, she was looking for a gift for her boyfriend. (And don’t for a minute imagine that the fact of a boyfriend slowed Bob down.) “Where do you go to school?” he asked. “Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri,” she replied. “What a coincidence,” he said, “I graduated from the University of Missouri there in Columbia.” The genie was out of the bottle. “We had common ground now,” Bob said. She chose cufflinks for her boyfriend and Bob asked, “Would you like to get them engraved? Because there’s no charge for engraving and it takes about a week.” She thought that was a good idea, so Bob smoothly said, “What is your name and address and where can I reach you by phone?” When she came back the next week, Bob upped the ante. “By the way, would you like to go out with me?” SPRING & SUMMER 2013
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She replied that while it would be fun to talk about Columbia, Missouri, she did have a serious boyfriend, so no thank you. Bob, as you know by now, was not deterred. He sent her a photo of himself posing in front of the Eiffel Tower, one of a series of pictures taken by a professional photographer friend. In these pictures, Bob would be at a landmark of some sort and was always wearing three watches. “I sent this to Betty and said I hoped when she came back she would stop by and we could get better acquainted. In those days of no Internet, and when calls were expensive, college students would do anything for mail. So she answered my postcard and we started writing back and forth.” When she returned for spring break, Bob reasoned with her, “Your boyfriend’s in a different school and he’s not home. Go out with me.” She couldn’t argue with that, so they went out. Since it was raining the night of their first date, Bob didn’t want to drive his sleek convertible, so he borrowed a friend’s car, picking her up at her home in Marked Tree, Arkansas. The date went well and they decided to have another before she went back to school. “It wasn’t raining this time, so I drove down and picked her up in the Sunbeam, and we drove back to Memphis.” Except that it did start to rain on the way. 44 | R i v i e r e
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“In the Sunbeam, you have two choices: stop and put the top up, which two people with experience can do in 30 minutes. Or you can drive faster so the rain blows over you. I liked to drive faster.” That was fine until they crossed the bridge into Memphis and had to stop at a traffic signal and the rain poured in. Bob had a fix for the situation although it was a little inelegant. By using the tonneau cover that came with the car, Bob could drive but Betty had to scrunch under it. “She’s only half drenched at this point,” Bob said, “just enough to ruin her hairdo.” The rain eased up and they laboriously put the top up, but otherwise had a fine time on their date. So with an adventure under their belts, they decided to go on another date. Bob knew there was a great attraction and realized it was going to get serious. He also realized he’d never asked Betty about one small detail of her life. “I asked her how old she was and she said she would be 18 in January.” Bob was dumbfounded! She was in college and seemed to be at least 19 or 20. “Here I was, a grizzled 28-year-old dating a 17-year-old girl, driving back and forth to Arkansas. I said oh my gosh, what am I doing?” The fact that she was going back to school helped. The next summer when she was 18, Bob felt better about the
situation. “At least she was over 17,” he said. “So we continued to date and it really did get serious. We talked about getting more serious, but I thought that I just couldn’t get married to an 18-year-old girl. I was 28 and I didn’t want it to get out of hand.” They went on like that for a year, though. And it did not get out of hand. But Bob had concluded it couldn’t continue. She was so young and still in college. He went to pick her up for one last date where he would tell her the relationship couldn’t keep going. “I went down to pick her up in the Sunbeam with the top down,” he said. “I rang the doorbell and she came to the door holding a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I inhaled! Chanel has never produced a fragrance like that. I bit into one of the cookies and thought to myself, ‘What have I done!’ ” They drove back to Memphis for dinner at the old Embers Restaurant. They talked about this and that and the cookies. “Finally,” Bob said, “I told her this was the most absurd romance any two people could get into. I was 28 and had traveled all over the world. I knew what a good drink was, and there weren’t many bars I passed by without stopping in to get acquainted with the bartender. And I was Jewish and she wasn’t. We had all these impediments and she hadn’t even
finished college. I told her we had to put an end to it.” Betty told Bob, though, that she didn’t see any impediments from her point of view. She wanted to continue. “So I said the only thing for us to do is to get married — and she said all right.” Bob was a man with an accounting background, a careful businessman, a mature gentleman used to having things go according to plan. But this date hadn’t turned out anywhere near what he had envisioned when it started out. It began with that chocolate chip cookie and spun out of control, going from talk of a breakup to a marriage proposal over the course of one dinner. “We walked out of the restaurant,” Bob said, “and when we got to the car, Betty said, do you want to take the napkin back? I still had the nice linen napkin tucked into my belt.” He was flustered, but happy. They drove back to Marked Tree and he told her they’d talked enough for one night and he was going back to Memphis in his Alpine to ponder what had happened. One of the first things he considered was that he needed to get Betty an engagement ring. “I was looking at what we had in the store,” he said. “We had a nice mom-and-pop business and the largest diamond we had was a one carat diamond. But I wanted to give her
something larger—we were in the business and everyone would be looking at it. So I told Betty I didn’t have a ring yet, but I was going to the New York jewelry show with my father and would find something there.” One week turned into two and Bob went and found the gem he liked, but it had to be mounted. “Meanwhile,” Bob said, “Betty’s mother is getting suspicious. We’re getting married but there’s no engagement ring? And I have a jewelry store? Her mother felt something wasn’t adding up.” Finally, though, the ring came from New York. “I called her,” Bob said, “but didn’t tell her the ring had come in. She was sick in bed with a cold, however. I told her I was driving over anyway. I took the ring and the box it was in and put it in a brown grocery sack. I drove over to Marked Tree and Betty is in pajamas feeling just awful. Her parents had gone out to a rodeo. I looked at her and said, ‘I’ve got something my doctor says will cure your cold.’ ” Betty still had no idea. She sniffled and complained that nothing would work. But she took the bag anyway. She opened the box and put on the ring. Suddenly, Betty was better. “She got up and said she was going to get dressed,” Bob said. “I asked where we were going and she said we had to go find
her mother and father. We drove over to the rodeo and found them in the stands.” They were delighted, not only at the ring but at the fact their daughter had been miraculously cured of her cold. “That ring had a carat and a half diamond,” Bob said. “By the time the night was over, everybody in Marked Tree had built it up to a 6 carat diamond that came from this old guy in Memphis.” Through it all, the Sunbeam Alpine was there for them. Rain or shine, doubt or certainty, top up and top down. “That’s part of the background with the car,” Bob said. “I drove this car with her and we were fine.” They got married in 1961 and before long were having children. But the Alpine, an expression of adventure, travel and romance, was not really made for more than two people. “When Jay was born we could barely drive to Marked Tree with an infant and all the baby stuff like the carriage and so on,” Bob said. “When Molly came along, it became impossible to use for general transportation although I could drive it to and from work. So we had to get a bigger car.” But Bob was not about to part with the other beauty in his life. Betty’s father told him he could keep it in one of his barns in Arkansas. “I said fine, I’d park it there for a couple of months and that turned out to be 30 years.” SPRING & SUMMER 2013
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“...the car delivered to me in 2005, completely restored, and that’s total
Bob had put a tarpaulin over the car, which helped protect it from the elements. But there it stayed for three decades, from about 1965 to 1995, while Bob and Betty raised a family and tended to business. A friend of Bob’s who was in a sports car club asked him about it one day and said he’d like to buy it. “I don’t even know what it looks like now,” Bob told him. So he went back to the barn and took the tarp off. “I opened the hood and a raccoon stuck his head out. He’d made a home in the engine compartment and I just slammed the hood shut and said I guessed I would sell the car.” “My friend said he’d give me $1,000 for it,” Bob said. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he needed to at least see if his beloved Sunbeam Alpine could be restored. He determined that it probably could be done, but he didn’t imagine it would take 10 years to complete. Bob had acquired as many spare parts as he could when he bought the Alpine in 1955, and that helped, but it was still a long haul. There was a false start with a guy in Tupelo who held on to the vehicle and did very little with it. Bob had to get a court order to get his car back and then restart the restoration process. 46 | R i v i e r e
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“I asked around some more and finally somebody gave me the name of this man in North Carolina who did wonderful restoration of antique cars,” Bob said. “I called him, but he said he was retired. But then he asked what car I had. Turns out that he would work on a project he found really interesting and this was it. He came over with a flatbed truck, got the Alpine and took it to North Carolina.” “This time, it was done correctly, meticulously,” Bob said of the job that would ultimately cost around $35,000. “We had a hard time finding parts, but we called all over. The only things not original are the muffler and the battery—we didn’t want to put a British battery in it.” The paint job was an improvement over the original. “The paints in those days weren’t very good,” Bob said. “You had to put all sorts of preservatives and it lasted at best for about four years, especially British paints. So we re-created the paint by going to a body shop and taking a little of this and a little of that until we got it to a 99 percent replication.” Getting the tires was a challenge as well. They were an odd size and not made anymore. But eventually Bob found tires that came as close as possible and were able to support the fairly heavy weight of the car.
happiness
.”
Finding a windshield was a terrifically difficult thing. It had delaminated and couldn’t be fabricated. But—wonder of wonders — a windshield from a Sunbeam Talbot became available. The Alpine was derived from the Talbot, so the fit was exact. But there’s always something that gets in the way. In this case, the seller was in the Cotswolds in England. It’s a beautiful part of the world, but at the time, there seemed to be no way to get the windshield out of there. FedEx and UPS weren’t an option. He was rarely at home. It was impractical to leave it with a neighbor for pickup. “This goes on for four months,” Bob said. “I finally figured a way we could pick it up. Jay’s roommate in college was president of a bank that had a branch in London. I had Jay call his friend and see what could be done. Finally, some junior, junior grade officer of the bank branch in London got in the company’s car and drove I don’t know how many hours to the Cotswolds.” He got the windshield, loaded it up and brought it back to London where it was shipped FedEx. “The shipping cost more than the windshield,” Bob said. “But we put it on and there was the car delivered to me in 2005, completely restored, and that’s total happiness.”
KENDALL BRITT, JR.
Splinters of the STARS
By Christopher Blank
A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, TRAVIS BRADLEY WALKED INTO MEDNIKOW JEWELERS SEARCHING FOR A GRAND GESTURE OR, AT LEAST, A GOOD REASON TO MAKE ONE. No, he wasn’t picking out an engagement ring — though an equally romantic proposition was certainly in the works. Bradley, a dancer and choreographer with Ballet Memphis, was asked to create a new ballet based on the theme of “design.” Like the sun glinting on a fine gem, a thought flashed into his brain. “I went to Mednikow and we started going through all the cases,” Bradley says. “We looked at bracelets, necklaces. We went through books. There is so much intricacy in jewelry that lends itself to dance.” He ran a strand of pearls through his fingers and visualized a luxurious dance: soft, round, the color of moonlight, orderly yet fluid. Pearls had a wealth of built-in allusions — to the sea, to the goddess Venus, to metamorphosis. Pearls would no doubt provide a perfectly legitimate reason to dance. 48 | R i v i e r e
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But Bradley kept looking. He handled a variety of fine, handcrafted jewelry pieces. Colorful sapphires evoked a range of moods. The ornate engravings circling a gold bracelet filled him with a sense of motion. But none of the jewelry quite aligned to his style of choreography. Bradley, more than many of his colleagues at the mixed-rep dance company, takes a more classical approach to dancemaking. He values lightness and elegance, but with strong lines and crisp imagery. The gold and silver bracelets and the big colorful stones just felt heavy to him. They were beautiful pieces, but they weren’t talking to his instincts. Then, his eyes caught the diamonds. “The ultimate beauty is what strikes you first,” Bradley says. “There’s so much strength in a diamond. It’s the strongest mineral. And yet it also has so much light KENDALL BRITT, JR. and beauty. That’s the way I define a dancer.” Bradley marveled at the way the rainbow-colored light danced off the stones. “Geometrically, you see sharp edges, but the light has a soft curvature,” Bradley says. “When you are dancing ballet, you
are creating lines. As you move, you break those lines to make something fluid. As a choreographer, I like to find ways of manipulating lines, of breaking and sculpting them.” Peering into one particularly large diamond, he studied the interplay of light. There, he also found the emotional core of his work. “It reads fire to me,” he says. “Fire takes me to eternal love. There’s burning inside of it. The light is purity and gentleness.” In researching the gemstone’s history, he discovered legends depicting diamonds as tears of the gods, or “splinters of the stars.” In 2011, Ballet Memphis premiered Bradley’s dance, “Splinters of the Stars,” on a program called “Connections: Food.” Just as Bradley had “connected” his work to an element of design, a local chef had created a dish to complement the work. The audience was served a special sushi roll on a bed of coarse rock salt — the salt referring back to the diamonds. This year, Ballet Memphis asked Bradley to re-stage his ballet for a special performance in May. This allowed Bradley the luxury of re-visiting and re-imagining his work. Each of the five movements in Bradley’s work, set in a whimsical 1950s and ’60s world of romance, has a different theme. The Everly Brothers “All I have to Do Is Dream,” Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star,” Etta James’ “I’ll Dry My Tears,” Nat King Cole’s “Smile,” and Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” offer lyrical associations to the themes Bradley found in diamonds. Recently, he revisited the counter that inspired his dance and traded aesthetic observations with owner Jay Mednikow, who immediately latched onto the choreographer’s description of the hard and soft qualities inherent in diamonds. “It’s absolutely fascinating to hear someone from a different art form pick up on that!” Mednikow says. “As much as I appreciate the specialness and radiance of a gem, it never would have occurred to me to think of soft facets versus strong facets. It always amazes me to hear people talk about the art form that is the diamond.” An elegant diamond riviere necklace (from which this magazine gets its name) had both dancer and jeweler talking about it as though it were alive. Bradley noted the way light cascaded down the length of the necklace draped over Mednikow’s hand. Both dances and diamonds get their beauty from motion. The facets inside a diamond constantly bend and break the light into the shapes and colors that lend
each stone its unique character. Dancers, too, create a concatenated spectrum of images that speak to the character of the choreographer. Understanding how good diamonds work, Mednikow says, is not far removed from understanding a good ballet. “When I look at a diamond I want to make sure there are no areas of darkness where the facets don’t align correctly,” Mednikow says. “No one wants a leaky diamond.” “You’re saying that the mirror isn’t there?” Bradley asks. “Exactly, the light bounces off one facet and goes out the side. The dance equivalent might be if everybody’s arms weren’t lined up at the right angle.” “Yes,” says Bradley, “when someone is out of line, you end up looking PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER BLANK at the flaw. It draws the eye.” Like the art of diamond cutting, classical ballet has its rules and traditions. Each dancer is one facet of the work. Those facets must align. The dance-diamond connection has Mednikow excited about attending Bradley’s ballet. But then, Mednikow has always valued the connection between the performing arts and the fine jewelry business.
“There’s so much strength in a diamond. It’s the strongest mineral. And yet it also has so much
and beauty
light
. That’s the way I define a dancer.”
“I once called jewelry a ‘necessary luxury’ because even though you don’t technically have to have jewelry to live, there’s a certain fundamental need people have to adorn themselves,” he says. “In the same way, the arts are the cultural food that make life in any city really worthwhile.”
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The Mystique of
Lockets
B y J e a n M a t h ew s
AS ANY AGATHA CHRISTIE FAN KNOWS, MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE RIDE THE COAT TAILS OF EVOCATIVE CLUES. Knowing just a little makes us want to know a little more, and the most tantalizing secrets are not hidden, but partially revealed. Browsing through the charming antiques shops of Paris, jewelry designer and photographer Monica Rich Kosann realized that in much the same way, the antique lockets she discovered on her shopping trips held a similar mystique. Her imagination was captured by their smooth golden globes filled with faded photographs and inscribed with sweet sentiments. “The lockets provided me with a personal history of the women who wore them; each photo and engraving was an intimate revelation about its long-ago owner,” she explains. “I also enjoyed visiting the many wonderful museums in Paris and found the portraits of elegant ladies especially charming. I noticed that those who wore lockets had a special air of mystery, as if they were saying ‘Guess what secret I hold inside my locket?’” Kosann says that today a locket might contain a memento or a note; a photo of a person or a special place, or even a pet. She muses, “Lockets are so bespoke, every woman who wears one has a different story that is held within her locket, something that if she chooses to share it will reveal something about her.” SPRING & SUMMER 2013
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B
eguiling charm bracelet by Elizabeth Locke in nineteen karat yellow gold.
Spring Potpourri Bijoux We
Love
IF YOU LIVE IN MEMPHIS, THERE’S NO NEED TO TRAVEL TO PARIS TO ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF A SPRING DAY. Yards and gardens burst with a riot of jewel-toned azalea blooms beckoning us to come outdoors and enjoy the balmy spring weather. Invitations to picnics and barbecues, graduations and weddings arrive, and the fun of planning “what to wear” begins! Fashion for spring and summer is more playful. Clothes and jewelry take on the vibrant colors of the season as whites and pastels push the dark colors of winter to the back of our closets. Refreshing wardrobes and jewelry boxes with a pretty floral palette is every woman’s favorite rite of spring and to help, we’ve pulled together a potpourri of pieces reflecting the colors of spring—shimmering blue skies, spring showers, fragrant roses and lilacs, leafy green gardens, the lazy, golden days and of course, the sparkle of romantic moonlit nights spent under a starry sky.
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L
acy diamond pendant in eighteen karat yellow gold with diamond station necklace by Penny Preville. (Pictured in eighteen karat white gold on page 27)
E
ighteen karat yellow gold earrings with colorful briolettes from the Dancing in the Rain Collection by Laura Bicego for Nanis. (Pictured on page 50)
Refreshing wardrobes and jewelry boxes with a pretty oral palette is every woman’s favorite rite of
spring
.
H
ighly stackable bangle bracelets by Ippolita in eighteen karat yellow gold. (Pictured in sterling silver on pages 60 and 61)
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S
pring-inspired engagement ring in platinum features glittering pave diamonds cradling an exquisite large oval diamond.
L
oop the loop with a sparkling thirty-four inch platinum necklace featuring diamonds-by-the-yard in a mix of shapes or a twenty-inch necklace dotted with marquise and round brilliant diamonds. (Pictured on pages 16 and 17)
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C
ushion cut sky blue topaz set in gleaming sterling silver for him . . . that she can wear, too. (Pictured on him before she borrowed them on page 47)
M
ednikow’s “Shimmer and Shake” diamond necklace makes wearing diamonds more fun than ever.
I
t isn’t necessary to be a May birthday girl in order to declare your “green attitude” with a stunning suite of emeralds surrounded by pave set diamonds.
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M
ednikow’s WaterColor Collection comes in a complete palette of Impressionist colors. Necklace shown in eighteen karat yellow gold bezel-set with stations of green, rose, and purple amethyst and green cushion cut amethyst earrings in eighteen karat yellow gold. (Pictured on pages 18 and 19)
M
ednikow’s Bold Gold Collection features stackable bands of color, with faceted curved stones of amethyst and green amethyst. (Pictured on pages 18 and 19)
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E
ighteen karat yellow gold necklace and bracelet from Mednikow’s Bold Gold Collection join together seamlessly and both feature accent links set with pave diamonds. (Pictured on pages 24 and 25)
S
port your team colors, your favorite cause, or a birthstone—the choices are all yours with these comfortable, flexible stacking bracelets in a rainbow of gemstones in eighteen karat white gold. (Pictured on page 37)
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C
arelle’s pendant and earrings feature crescent moons made of eighteen carat yellow gold and diamonds.
M
onica Rich Kosann’s lockets are known for the secrets that they keep (article on page 51), and their ingenious eighteen karat yellow gold bottle charm pendant holds a carnelian genie within its golden cage.
I
ppolita bracelet in sterling silver wraps the colors of your last beach get-away-weekend around your wrist.
V
ersatile as your favorite denim jeans, the large faceted stones set in these sterling silver Snowman earrings by Ippolita go with everything.
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I
t's the classic and definitively southern necklace that was personal before personal jewelry became trendy. Our traditional Mednikow Monogram Pendant is available in a choice of fourteen karat yellow, white, or rose gold — as shown.
H
eather B. Moore takes personal jewelry to the “n’th” latitudinal degree and from A to Z with an astonishing variety of engravable charms so you can tell your story in eighteen karat yellow gold and sterling silver and spell it out in diamonds or whatever precious gems suits your fancy.
R
ing and Earrings from Pomellato’s Tabou Collection feature blue topaz gemstones in mosaic settings of eighteen karat rose gold and burnished silver.
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Avocado Gazpacho
Bon Appétit Recipes by José Gutierrez 62 | R i v i e r e
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B y F r e d r i c Ko e p p e l P h o to s by J ay Ad k i n s
Spring brings not only colorful azaleas, tulips and flowering dogwoods to our city but personally the yen for lighter brighter fare on our tables and lighter brighter wines to accompany our meals. To accomplish that end, José Gutierrez, executive chef of the popular River Oaks restaurant in East Memphis, composed a menu, steeped in French tradition but lit by new American flair, that flatters our sense of the season as well as our appetites. With its emphasis on savory but elegant ingredients and artful presentations, this four-course meal would make a lovely and leisurely Saturday or Sunday brunch, perhaps on a patio or terrace to take advantage of the fine weather and blossoming trees. AVOCADO GAZPACHO Serves 2 1 avocado 1/4 onion, diced 1/2 cucumber, peeled 1/3 clove garlic 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 1 1/2 cup water salt to taste 1. In a blender, combine and blend until smooth. Add more or less water to desired consistency. 2. Saute two shrimp in 1/2 t olive oil 3. Garnish Gazpacho with one shrimp and microgreens.
THE OTHER FABERGE EGGS LANGUE DE CHAT SALE 2.5 ounces sugar 3.6 ounces flour 4 2/3 tablespoons butter 3 egg whites Preheat oven to 350˚F 1. Melt butter and cool. Mix flour and sugar and whisk in egg whites. Whisk in butter until combined. Refrigerate batter for 5 minutes. 2. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spread batter as thinly as possible with a flat spatula. Cook until the batter starts to bubble but has not colored-approximately 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into 5 inch long strips 3/4 inch wide. Return to oven and cook until crisp—8 to 12 minutes. 3. Remove strips and wrap hot strips around a cylinder form to shape. Cool.
The Other Faberge Eggs Langue de Chat Sale
Eggs: 3 large eggs 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard 5 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped very fine Bring medium sauce pan of water to boil. Carefully add 3 eggs and continue to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in cold water. Peel and dry. Brush eggs with Dijon mustard and roll in bacon to cover evenly. Ratatouille: 1 cup dry white wine 2 teaspoons tomato paste 1/2 bay leaf 1 clove garlic, chopped fine 1 sprig thyme 1 tomato, peeled, seeded and diced 3 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 1/2 onion, diced 1/2 zucchini, diced salt and pepper to taste Combine wine, tomato and tomato paste with thyme, garlic and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil and add to the wine mixture. Saute the zucchini and add at the last minute to the vegetable mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste, remove bay leaf.
Caramelized Salmon with Asparagus and Cauliflower Risotto
To assemble: Place three Cookie rings on serving plate. Fill center of rings with ratatouille. Top with eggs.
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To Serve: Place a spoon of warm cauliflower risotto in the middle of the plate and top with a filet of salmon. Drizzle a thin line of reduced balsamic vinegar around the cauliflower.
PEACH PANNA COTTA WITH BERRIES AND PISTACHIOS Serves 6 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin 1/2 cup cream 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 tablespoon lemon zest 6 tablespoons peach marmalade 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier 1/2 tablespoon honey 3 fresh peaches, sliced 1 cup mixed fresh berries 2 tablespoons unsalted, shelled pistachios, chopped
Peach Panna Cotta with Berries and Pistachios and French Macarons CARAMELIZED SALMON WITH ASPARAGUS AND CAULIFLOWER RISOTTO Serves 6 6 six-ounce salmon filets 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper 30 medium, evenly cut asparagus 1 head of cauliflower 1 1/2 cups cream 2 cups shredded mozzarella 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar Preparation 1. Cook the asparagus in salted, boiling water until it is al dente. Rinse with cool water. 2. Dice cauliflower, place cream in medium pan, add cauliflower, and cook until tender. Add cheese, salt, and pepper. Set aside. 3. In a small pot, reduce balsamic vinegar by half. Set aside. 4. Using a filet knife, make a half slit in the center of the salmon. Place asparagus in the middle. Trim if necessary. 5. Season salmon with salt on both sides. Mix sugar with paprika and sprinkle on top of salmon. 6. Heat oven to 350° F. 7. Heat olive oil in medium oven-proof sauté pan and cook the salmon on top until it is golden brown. 8. Place in the oven and cook 10-12 minutes.
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In a medium saucepan, heat 1/2 cup cream with gelatin, stir to dissolve. In a bowl, combine lemon zest, sugar, vanilla, cream and gelatin and stir until sugar dissolves. Add and stir the rest of the cream and buttermilk. Place one tablespoon peach marmalade in bottom of each ramekin. Fill ramekins with cream mixture and refrigerate until set. To plate: Mix peaches and berries with honey and Grand Marnier. Spoon on top of Panna Cotta and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
FRENCH MACARONS 180 grams egg whites 180 grams sugar 160 grams almond flour 160 grams powdered sugar 1. Whisk powdered sugar and almond flour together. Sift. 2. Preheat convection oven to 300˚F. 3. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold flours into whites until mixture is smooth and shiny. 4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain round tip and pipe 3/4 inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Dampen finger tip and gently flatten any peaks that form. 5. Bake for 6 minutes. Turn convection off and bake for 6 minutes more until set. The macaroons should not color. Cool. 6. Fill with chocolate ganache and roll in chopped pistachios.
WINE RECOMMENDATIONS FIRST COURSE: Let’s have fun and a little festivity with the avocado soup and open a bottle of French sparkling wine, not from the well-known Champagne region but made in the method of Champagne. The Marcel Martin Téte de Cuvée Brut Crémant de Loire (about $24), based on the chenin blanc grape, is strikingly effervescent, flavorful, full-bodied and creamy, but cut by blade-like acidity to balance the richness of the avocado. An alternative would be the Cuvée Stéphi Ebullience Crémant de Limoux (about $20), from a vineyard not far from the romantic castle-city of Carcassonne; made primarily from chardonnay grapes, this is wonderfully clean, sleek, minerally and elegant. SECOND COURSE: Eggs on the menu; think rosé. Both of these examples originate in the South of France but make a very different impression. Chateau de Ségriès 2011, from the Tavel region (about $20), is a typical blend of Southern Rhone red grape varieties (and one white), resulting in a classic pale, dry rosé that evokes strawberries, dried red currants, lilacs, wild herbs and hot stones. The other end of the rosé spectrum is represented by Chateau de Campuget 2012, Costières de Nîmes (about $13), based mainly on the syrah grape and offering a slightly darker and more robust experience with its aura of mulberries and plums, rose petals, orange zest and graphite. THIRD COURSE: Layered wines to match this complex dish, the first made completely from sauvignon blanc grapes, the second from chardonnay. The Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre 2011, Loire Valley (about $25), radiates purity and intensity with its lemon drop and lime peel flavors, its tense lean sense of energy and its steely finish. The Capitain-Gagnerot Bourgogne “Les Gueulottes” 2009, Hautes Côtes de Beaune (about $27), like a perfect host, is graceful, lovely, generous and charming, with notes of roasted lemon and lemon curd, mango and orange blossom, quince and limestone, a perfect white Burgundy. DESSERT: Only one choice here, the Domaine des Bernardins 2009, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise (about $25 for a 375-milliliter half-bottle), made from a grape with the pretty name muscat blanc à petits grains. Blazing acidity keeps the sweetness from being overwhelming, while its scents and flavors of softly ripe and macerated peaches and apricots and caramelized pears with a hint of baked pineapple conclude with a distinct floral quality. Wine recommendations are by Fredric Koeppel, former wine writer for the Scripps-Howard News Service and proprietor of the wine review blog biggerthanyourhead.net.