For most people, picnics conjure up images of grassy lawns, gingham cloths, and wicker hampers. In stark contrast to this typical summer picture, Champagne house Ruinart celebrated the introduction of its picnic hamper—Escapade—with a private dinner in a bare, minimalist setting. (Last year the company hosted a more traditional-looking picnic in Westchester.)
Wednesday on the 21st floor of the Glasshouses at the Chelsea Arts Tower, the small gathering showcased the new gift set (which will be sold this holiday season) to just 10 guests, including host Jean-Christophe Laizeau, the international director of communications at Maison Ruinart, and so-called "New York influencers" such as Baroness Sheri de Borchgrave, John McDonald, and Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti. Hired by Ruinart, the Susan Magrino Agency handled the design, management, and execution of the event.
Looking to design something unexpected, the agency's newly installed vice president of fashion and events, Lynn Willis, came up with the idea to create a wintry setting—an intentional contrast to the weather outside—in a way that wouldn't drown out the venue's minimalist look. To avoid clichéd winter trappings such as fake snow, Christmas trees, and ice, Willis opted to employ reflective surfaces, crystals, and bare branches to decorate the room.
The centerpiece was a large chandelier (approximately eight feet long) suspended over the dining table, which Willis made in-house using branches draped with crystals. Elsewhere, unadorned birch trees stood atop mirrored panels to form a sleek-looking forest. The table itself was topped with a mirrored surface and set with wooden discs for chargers, leaves for place cards, clear plastic chairs, and a tray from Michael Aram filled with leaves and berries from the flower market. Nearby, another table displayed the product, a luxury version of a picnic basket with four hidden compartments, a leather throw that doubles as a carrying case, and engraved champagne flutes.
Echoing this aesthetic, the invitation—designed in-house at Susan Magrino and only sent out once the guests had confirmed—was a large cross-section of birch encased in a plexiglass container. The item was meant to be a miniature version of the event itself, essentially, as Willis put it, "a glass box with a piece of nature inside."
At dinner, catering company Creative Edge served wild mushroom ravioli and poached filet of beef. Passed sweets for dessert on the terrace included apple galette on puff pastry with vanilla sugar, peanut butter truffles dusted with bittersweet cocoa, and chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.
