The Fashion Issue No. 13

DVE IGHT S U M M E R 2 0 19 I S S U E 1 3

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

EDITOR’S NOTE

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

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F OR T H E PAS T F E W Y E A R S, a steady stream of creatives

have been relocating to the Catskills and Hudson Valley.

Designers, editors, and influencers—many from the fashion industry—have quietly left the city and made their way here. They’ve traded “expensive” for “expansive”— abandoning cramped city apartments and unaffordable loft studios for country cottages and small-town storefronts.

This September Issue is one of exploration. Through conversations with Helena Christensen & Camilla Staerk on creative collaboration in nature and Kai Kuhne & John Mollet on having the freedom to do anything anywhere. Through Patrick Robinson’s story of finding a place to escape the pressure and reconnect with himself and Nicholas & Christopher Kunz’s creative reawakening, we look at the impact of a fresh perspective. What spurred Inez Valk to leave Brooklyn and open a farm-to-table pizza spot in Bloomville? How is Ashley Ruprecht’s family using the land in Holmes to forge a new version of their future? Join us for an issue that explores the answers and that asks new questions about how and why fashion creatives are leaving their old ways of life behind.

Siblings and fashion designers Nicholas & Christopher Kunz of Nicholas K featured on page 20

NHI MUNDY Editor in Chief

DVE IGHT I S S U E 13

Editor in Chief NHI MUNDY

Travel Editor SANDY SOOHOO

Executive Editor MICHAEL MUNDY

Market Editor MANDY COON

Design Director STEPHEN MALE Style Director JOHN PAUL TRAN Associate Editor ALEXANDRA MARVAR

Contributing Writers ALEXANDRIA HAECHLER BARBARA DEVRIES DORIS CHEVRON EDDIE BRANNAN JILLIAN SCHEINFELD

Contributing Photographers HAROLD JULIAN JAKOB F.S. MATT NOVAK MICHAEL MUNDY MORIAH ASLAN NICHOLAS ROUTZEN NOAH KALINA STEPHAN SCHACHER Contributing Artists ALICE LANE EMILY SHEPHARD ISE WHITE

KATE BEST OWEN GOULD MATEEN MORTAZAVI VIBE DABELSTEEN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DVEIGHT Magazine Issue 13 © 2019 Delaware Valley 8 See the magazine online at dveightmag.com The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors.

Advertising Executive ESTHER DE JONG

They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Delaware Valley 8 or its members.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

Editorial Assistant ABIGAIL WAGNER

For customer service or advertising inquiries, please email nhi@dveightmag.com or write us at P.O. Box 41, Jeffersonville, NY 12748

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UP & COMING

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The mission statement of

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

FARMHOUSE CATSKILLS is simple, and reflects the resurgence of our region in recent years: “to

bring the glory of the Catskills to a new generation.” Recently opened, the 75-room hotel is an uber-chic gateway drug for city residents seeking to get their upstate on. Styling itself after a traditional country inn (albeit one as thoroughly interior designed as any other boutique hotel), Farmhouse Catskills is based around a restored heritage-marked farmhouse, and was conceived to serve as a hub for socializing and a gathering spot for the increasingly young and affluent Callicoon community: from the farm-to-table inspired restaurant and sumptuous black-limestone speakeasy-inspired bar, to the inviting terrace and garden complete with firepits. Throw in a 150-year-old barn turned multi-faceted creative studio and exhibition space, and it quickly becomes apparent that the glory days are well and truly back. farmhousecatskills.com Photograph by Peter Crosby

The

ICE HOUSE GALLERY and private residence, located in Garrison, NY, was opened last

year by Jayne Johnson, a former director at Peter Freeman Gallery in SoHo. Johnson, like many of us a long-time city-dweller, decided after the birth of her child to reconfigure her existence to “have a working life that acknowledges my personal life.” So on a weekend trip to Garrison, she found an early-1900s ice house, once stocked by the freezing over of an adjacent pond, bought it, and converted it into a gallery and weekend residence for herself and her family.

The gallery (which is open by appointment only) has already presented seven shows in its brief existence, including a recent collection of intricately patterned paintings on hand-loomed linens by the New York artists Mark Barrow and Sarah Parke. “Home/Work,” a group show that examines the complexities of domestic labor and female identity, is on view now through Sept. 2.

For appointments, email jayne@jdj.world.com Photograph by Kyle Knodell

UCOPMING AND

Taavo Somer is a name known to many a New Yorker. The restaurateur behind Freemans and Gemma in the Bowery Hotel is opening

UPSTATE

By E D D IE B RANNAN

KINSLEY RESTAURANT

in the first of Kingston’s Hotel Kingsley buildings at 301 Wall

Street. The 50 seat dining room combines terrazzo floors, intimate velvet couches, accents of greenery alongside an original mural by painter and illustrator Happy Menocal in an atmosphere of understated glamour. Chef Gabe Ross previously worked with Zakary Pelaccio and Kevin Pomplun of Hudson’s Fish & Game and Backbar, and the beverage program is led by Natasha David, co-owner of the Lower East Side bar Nitecap, and Jeremy Oertel, currently the beverage director and a partner at Donna Cocktail Club in Brooklyn— so the star power of Kinsley is up there. 301 Wall Street houses the restaurant as well as hotel check-in, ten guest rooms, and the spa. It’s a former bank dating back to the 1860s, and the hotel will eventually occupy four historic buildings in Kingston’s Stockade District. hotelkinsley.com

After 20 years working as a senior fashion executive in New York City,

KAMA CARNES, like many of us, decided to

make the transition to living upstate full time. But she’s not taking it easy. Carnes, who in a long career has been president of Kiki De Montparnasse and a senior executive at Donna Karan and her partner, Dennis Askins, an architect whose work has focused on fashion retail and hotel interiors, recently purchased 67 Main Street, a former A&P supermarket located across the street from Livingston Manor’s popular Brandenburg Bakery. Built in 1940, the handsome 12,000 square foot brick structure will be transformed to offer a full range of retail and food, plus a shared workspace on the ground floor, and lodging upstairs, which will take the form of short and long-term apartment rentals. While both bring an elevated taste level to their endeavors, with 67 Main Street they were conscientious about serving the Livingston Manor community.

“We’ve solicited feedback and listened closely to the community to understand what the town needs and areas that would add value and benefit our neighbors, local businesses, locals and visitors, says Carnes. The pair plan for 67 Main Street to be up and running by the end of the year.

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FREE RANGE

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

THE INADVERTENT ACTIVIST BARBAR A DE VRIES, who lives for much of the year in Milford, PA., began highlighting the scourge of ocean

plastics after a vacation on the Bahamian island of Eleutheria. Attracted by the vibrant, striated sands of the beaches, she quickly realized that what she was admiring was plastic debris, worn down and smoothed out by its journey in the ocean. A former model-turned-fashion designer—she oversaw the launch of CK Calvin Klein as director of design—de Vries quickly set to work recycling the detritus into hand-made jewelry that has helped raise awareness around ocean pollution. Her work has since been featured at Art Basel Miami, Gallery Diet Miami, the Coral Gables Museum, and at Mildred’s Lane in Narrowsburg, and in collaborations with Barneys New York, The Nature Conservancy, and others. It was also the subject of a TEDx talk she gave in 2011, and was featured in the documentary One Beach. Along with her husband, Alastair Gordon, she manages an independent publishing imprint specializing in large-scale illustrated books specializing in architecture, art and design, and fashion. Her design aesthetic is evident in the artful illustrations she created for her book, Stupid Model, a witty roman à clef about a young Dutch model coming of age in the 1970s.

By B ARBARA DE VRIE S

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FREE RANGE

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CHRISTM AS 2006 WAS FORECAST TO BE PARTICUL ARLY COLD in New

Middleton and she helped him plan a trip to Midway Island in the Pacific. His

York and, at the last minute, we rented a house in Eleuthera for the holidays. It

photographs of dead alabtrosses, their corpses decomposed around their stomach

rained when we arrived, and then it poured for the next two weeks. Unable to

contents—intact and recognizable plastic like bottle caps and lighters—were

sunbathe, I spent a lot of time exploring the pink ocean beaches at Governor’s

shared millions of times on social media and ignited public awareness more than

Harbour, and from Palmetto Point to Double Bay.

anything else at the time.

On my first beach walk, I was mesmerized by the colors and texture of the

In the summer of 2007, we rented a house in Eleuthera for the whole month

surf line – the seeds, shells, froth and seaweed, and … tiny brightly colored bits of

of July. Inspired, I had brought my Dremel drill, jewelry tools and fittings like

blue, pink and yellow. “How pretty,” I thought, before I realized they were made

earring hoops, silver wire, and waxed lace. It so happened that a new boutique

of plastic. I looked further up the beach and noticed plastic everywhere. Small,

was opening up at the Beach House Bar and Restaurant on French Leave Beach,

medium and large pieces were scattered throughout the sand. Some had recently

and Jude, the owner, had noticed some of my pieces as I wore them to lunch. She

washed up while others appeared to have been in the elements for ages. I went

asked me to make a collection of beach plastic jewelry for the store. This was the

from being charmed by the colors to being horrified at the implications.

first collection of many that I continue to make from beach plastic, and sell around

I walked along the coast for hours, collecting interesting shapes in my backpack.

the world.

A heap of colorful plastic piled up on the porch of our house. As I walked, it

A year later I conducted my first workshop with local school children, by

dawned on me that every piece of plastic was made to follow a human function

invitation of Orjan Lindroth at Schooner Bay on Abaco, Bahamas. Soon afterwards

but after it had been exposed to the sun and ocean it also reflected nature. As a

the Haynes Library in Governor’s Harbour and the Tarpum Bay Cultural Center,

designer, I found this interaction of nature and design irresistible, and before the

both on Eleuthera, organized similar workshops, where we took the children onto

vacation was over I bought a tote bag, filled it with my collection of beach plastic

the beaches, collected plastic, brought it back to the hose, cleaned it, dried it in the

and took it home.

sun and took it into the workroom, where we laid it out by color, and I taught them

This was the beginning of many trips to Eleuthera, and many return trips

how to make art as well as jewelry from this rainbow of plastic fragments.

lugging totes of plastic to my studio where it piled up in cardboard boxes. At first,

By 2012, it seemed that public awareness of ocean plastic pollution had

I didn’t know what to do with it, but eventually, I found a way to incorporate beach

reached critical mass and I was getting all sorts of offers: a TED talk in Miami, a

plastic into my work.

film about four artists who worked in beach plastic called One Beach, a year-long

Plastic is one of the most popular inventions of the 20th century. Initially

involvement with the Nature Conservancy that took me from the Bahamas all the

advertised as the material that would ease our demands on nature (wood, bone,

way up the East Coast, and a collaboration with Julie Gilhart at Barneys New

metals, animal skin, sand, etc.) it has become a global environmental disaster

York, to upcycle 750 tee shirts from the previous summer season by embellishing

in the 21st century, just 60 years since its introduction. An oil by-product, it is

them with my collection of beach plastic, shows at several galleries, and an article

inexpensive to produce and widely perceived as disposable. Thirty-three percent of

on vogue.com. Inadvertently, I had become an advocate and activist against

all plastic is used once and then discarded, even though it is made to last forever.

plastic pollution.

Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

In March 2015, Pam Longobardi, a distinguished professor at GSU, artist and

Scientists calculate that ten million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every

plastic pollution activist, organized a two-day symposium in Atlanta. Pam says:

year. Unless we change our ways, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish

“art bears witness to the crime of plastic pollution and speaks for that which has

(calculated by weight) by 2050.

no voice and communicates things that science can’t.”

Research shows that thousands of marine animals like birds, turtles, seals,

Here, for the first time, leading experts—scientists, legislators, artists, activists,

dolphins, whales, and others, die from plastic entrapment or ingestion annually.

academics and industry leaders—came together and shared how they’d become

Plastic is found in the stomach contents of most commercially caught fish. The

engaged in the cause, their creative response and most current research, how to

financial damage inflicted by plastic pollution on tourism, recreation, business, the

mobilize and how to find solutions to plastic pollution. More than forty speakers

environment, and human health is inestimable.

from all over the USA presented their work. Most of us had not met before, yet we

When I returned from Eleuthera in 2006, I Googled “beach plastic,” “ocean plastic,” “plastic pollution of the oceans.” Nothing came up. It was as if what I’d

told similar stories of discovery over a parallel time frame and we used the same lexicon to describe our experiences.

seen didn’t exist. A few months later a friend told me about a “plastic island” in the

The symposium cemented our shared destiny and after just 48 hours together, we

Pacific that was allegedly the size of Texas. I, like others, imagined a solid mass

realized that we weren’t mere individuals with a cause but we’d become a movement

where birds could land, and where vegetation was starting to grow from their

against plastic pollution of not just the oceans but the entire planet.

guano. I looked it up and learned about Captain Charles Moore’s now-infamous

Not long after, friends from Miami came back from a fishing trip in the Bahamas

sailing trip from Hawaii to Long Beach, California and the plastic he encountered.

and told me that the wife of the captain of their boat made jewelry from beach plastic

It was Moore who coined the phrase Plastic Island, which he adjusted to Plastic

and sold it in local boutiques. At the same time two of my Eleutheran mentees, Kristal

Soup. Eventually this ocean vortex became known as the first Plastic Gyre, one of

Ambrose and William Simmons, were doing great local and international outreach

seven gyres around the world, where ocean currents propel plastic from all around

through their new organizations: The Bahamas Plastic Movement and Space to

the globe in a kind of centrifugal maelstrom.

Create. Now, five years later, Kristal is an environmental scientist, and through

Aware of my obsession, a friend sent me a page from National Geographic

her NGO she engaged the Bahamian Government in banning certain plastics by

that showed a dead baby albatross and his stomach contents – an impossible

2020. With 45,000 followers, she has become a leader of the international plastic

amount of plastic that had been the cause of his demise. The photograph was by

pollution movement. She continues to show me how a single passionate person can

Susan Middleton. Inspired by the same article, Seattle artist Chris Jordan contacted

affect real change, and that there is such a thing as a (plastic) pebble in the pond.

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THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

IN PERSON

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Brother and sister, CHRISTOPHER and NICHOLAS KUNZ, have a connection to nature that runs deep. As kids, they grew up in Arizona with the state’s brilliant red mountains as their playground. “We were just wild. Our mom wasn’t a worried mom; she let us explore. We grew up outside,” recalls Christopher. Today, they are the driving force behind the Manhattan-based luxury sustainable womenswear brand, Nicholas K —— a label often cited for putting organic, natural fibers and androgynous design on the fashion map. And, thanks to nearby homes nestled along Delaware County’s Pepacton Reservoir, they are upstate neighbors who savor their weekends interacting with Mother Nature in a more tactile manner.

NICHOLAS AND CHRISTOPHER KUNZ THE SIBLING DUO TURNING DESIGN GREEN

By AL EXAND RIA H AEC H L ER Photography NICHOLAS ROUTZE N

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IN PERSON

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

“THE BUSINESS OF FASHION DIDN’T CARE IF

SOMETHING WAS ORGANIC. THEY CARED THAT YOU DELIVERED EVERY FOUR WEEKS, AND THAT THE NEXT SEASON WAS ON-TREND, AND THAT THE NEXT SEASON AFTER THAT WAS DIFFERENT. YOU GET PUMPED INTO THIS EQUATION AND YOU JUST KEEP SPINNING YOUR WHEELS TRYING TO KEEP UP” “YOU SEE THE EAGLES and deer wandering the land, it’s so wild; it feels like a

Rooted in season-less design and environmental mindfulness, Nicholas K

retreat in Canada or something,” says Nicholas. “I find it super relaxing to go up

started as a tough sell to an industry that thrives on seasons and trends. “The

every weekend and work in the garden. All of this manual labor feels exciting. It’s this

business of fashion didn’t care if something was organic. They cared that you

contrast to sitting at your desk or computer. I find it so meditative.” While Nicholas

delivered every four weeks, and that the next season was on-trend, and that the

and her husband, Marco, found their home nine years ago, Christopher bought his

next season after that was different. You get pumped into this equation and you just

property recently, a gut renovation he is almost entirely fixing up himself. “It’s nice

keep spinning your wheels trying to keep up,” he adds. Nicholas remembers those

to have space,” he admits. “I think that, at the end of the day, everyone likes to work

early days well, “When you are a lot younger, you think, ‘Okay, I guess we have

with their hands and work on something that has a tangible aspect to it, not like

to change if we want a business,’ but as the collection developed, we finally said,

sending 500 emails. I mean, you work on the garden, you see your progress, and

‘Screw it. If we have to do it like this, it’s not worthwhile.’”

you enjoy your progress later in the year. I think those things are often overlooked nowadays.”

Ironically, as soon as they unwaveringly committed to their vision, everything changed. “The whole fashion world evolved and androgynous fashion was in;

Besides tending to Nicholas’s generous garden, which has been home to the

sustainable fabrics were in. It’s crazy to think that it came full circle when for so

likes of goji berries, peanuts, arctic kiwis and mulberries, the siblings fly fish, forage,

many years, so many people pushed us against doing what we inherently wanted

tap Maple trees, paint, host photoshoots and build furniture at their upstate abodes.

to do,” recalls Nicholas. Around the same time, the brand evolved from a wholesale

“I think upstate is good. It brings back [our] creativity and it has reawakened different

into a direct-to-consumer model which gave the siblings considerably more control

art forms that we used to do,” explains Nicholas. “[For example,] we built all of our

over the collection. “When we were working with wholesalers, if we wanted to

furniture for our SoHo store upstate including some tables we finished using the

change all of our merino wool to alpaca, we knew it would be a problem because

Japanese practice of Shou sugi ban, [a technique consisting of burning wood]. We’re

alpaca is 30% more expensive,” explains Christopher, “but, a direct-to-consumer

trying to explore more of these artisanal, sustainable craft practices without using

business has allowed us to make these changes. If we want to convert all of the

chemicals.”

cotton to 100% organic cotton and the price goes up to $50, we’re going to do it.

If that sounds like a nod to the pair’s commitment to conscious living, it is. While

We don’t need to satisfy anyone but our customer.”

Christopher’s home is still under construction, much of Nicholas’s Catskills home is outfitted with progressive details like solar garden lights and a shed built by her

In addition to championing un-dyed and organic textiles, Nicholas K hand-dyes

husband using recycled windows and wood, and powered by solar panels. “Most

all of its prints (with nontoxic or vegetable dyes) and works with family-run small

people don’t realize that all of these things are still totally functioning and they’re

businesses, namely in India, instead of giant factories in an effort to cut down on

just sitting somewhere,” she says, seemingly not realizing just how perfectly her last

waste. Each seasonal collection is a study in pragmatic inventiveness— the brand

comment mirrors the exact awareness their brand, Nicholas K, is now famous for

is known for its wearable, albeit special pieces— which for S/S ’20 translated into

bringing to the fashion industry.

sweeping silhouettes in tones of olive, plum, and sand. “We take a lot of color

Since their first collection, the Kunzs have been designing mostly in natural fibers

inspiration from nature so our palette is always very organic— things that we see

that had otherwise been rarely—if, ever— used. “We were drawn to cotton, canvas,

upstate or in the wild,” Nicholas explains while gesturing towards a clothing rack

and merino wools,” Nicholas says, “but, it wasn’t easy in the beginning. We would

dripping in glossy silks and sturdy linens. “This collection is called, “Convent,”

get comments like, “You’re not using enough luxury fabrics,” because the collection

because we showed in this old hospital run by nuns for Barcelona Fashion Week.”

was very cotton-based.” They met similar resistance when the brand (now infamously)

One glance at the rack and a sinewy olive dress that can be worn with either short

introduced undyed alpaca into its collection in lieu of the industry gold standard:

or long sleeves and a convertible shirt-to-maxi-dress in a wine tie-dye unmistakably

cashmere. “People think that cashmere is the best fiber, but it’s actually not. The herd

stand out. “We like to think of silhouettes differently. Why does a shirt have to be

[today] has been bred for volume, not quality,” Christopher explains. “There are many

a button-down when it can be an asymmetrical shirt that converts into three other

grades of alpaca that are finer than cashmere. There is just all of this misinformation

things?” Nicholas asks. “I design how I want to wear things.” Bold and adaptable—

out there and we’ve realized that the educational impetus is really on us.”

not unlike Mother Nature, herself.

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MEET YOUR MAKERS

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

ENKY BAYARSAIKHAN, CATHERINE CARNEVALE, and PAMELA MAYER know a thing or two about setting up shop. The fashion designers all took a sizable risk moving to their respective corners of the Catskills and luckily it’s paid off. Each of these three ambitious women have their own flourishing brick-and-mortar stores that far exceed the run-of-the-mill shopping experience. Their unique collections may be what draw people in, but it’s their dedication to community, desire to create common spaces and forward-thinking attitudes that set them apart.

THE SHOPKEEPERS

By J ILLIAN SCHE INFE LD

ENKY BAYARSAIKAN Portrait MATT N OVA K

MOST PEOPLE KNOCK our exceedingly tech-reliant world, but Enky Bayarsaikhan

Bayarsaikhan’s handmade designs and McMahon’s furniture design was born.

begs to differ. Born and raised in Mongolia, the self-taught designer learned her

Sitting in a vibrantly designed brick-and-mortar on Warren Street, the eye-candy

trade three ways: Youtube, Google, and her seamstress grandmother, Linda. “As

shop functions as a retail space and showroom for the community; but it’s also

a kid, I would be next to my grandma making my dolls’ clothing with her scraps.

so much more than that. “ We hold classes, film screenings, performances, pop-

And then eventually, I started tailoring my clothes to fit better and started studying

ups with other designers/artist, and just general social hangouts like game nights,

how clothes were made by cutting them up. The internet and my grandmother are

drinking wine talking over ideas. It’s been really great,” she says.

my schools,” she says.

Bayarsaikhan has always been attracted to well-made items, so creating

When her family moved to Indiana as a teen, Bayarsaikhan was always on

clothing from sustainable materials was a no-brainer. “Looking back, I can see

the hunt for unique gems in Midwest thrift stores. That collection followed her to

my practice has developed in response to the fast fashion industry and how

Manhattan and became Bayarsaikhan’s first official batch of inventory. Soon after,

quality, timeless clothing is less and less accessible.” She even offers some tips

she set up shop at Basilica Farm & Flea Market and dipped her toes in the Hudson

on how to start shopping for quality and to resist the impulse to buy fast fashion.

community. “It was then that I began to embrace that having my own business was

“I recommend shopping at your local thrift or vintage shops. I personally always

in the cards for me,” she says.

go for more natural fibers like cotton, linen & silk, they feel good on the skin and

As fate would have it, five years ago Enky moved to Hudson and was on the

last longer than most synthetics. And when you do find a designer/label you’d like

hunt for a storefront. Her friend Elise McMahon, happened to be looking, too.

to buy from, save up for it. It’s a nice feeling knowing who, where and how your

That’s how ENKYU LIKEMINDEDOBJECTS SHOP, a collaborative shop showcasing

clothes are made.”

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MEET YOUR MAKERS

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

“THIS IS THE FIRST TIME

AS A BUSINESS OWNER I HAVE TRULY HAD A WORK-SPACE WITH A NETWORK-COMMUNITY AROUND ME. I’M EXCITED FOR THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE...”

CATHERINE CARNEVALE Portrait MATT N OVA K

IT’S ONLY NATUR AL given Catherine Carnevale’s upbringing that she gravitated

her husband purchased a home in Stone Ridge in Ulster County initially as a

towards creating knitted objects. Raised in England, the clothing designer learned

weekend getaway house. After their second child was born in 2017, they decided

to knit from her mother and grandmother and went on to study Fashion Textiles

to settle year-round. “Since moving upstate I have been beyond blessed with the

at Central Saint Martins and Knitwear at the University of Brighton. Combining

connections I have made with so many incredible like-minded people – so many

contemporary design with traditional Andean knitting techniques, her brand

creatives, makers and entrepreneurs of all types. The network is so inspirational

Eleven Six is a knitwear line made with alpaca sourced from South America and

and supportive – I often pinch myself that I have landed amongst it!” she says.

handmade by a women’s cooperative of artisans in Peru and Bolivia. Her line,

Being surrounded by a network of ambitious creatives in Kingston’s Fullerton

sold everywhere from Saks to Bloomingdales and smaller boutiques, is chic,

Building is a new experience for the designer. “This is the first time as a business

sumptuous, and lauded for tightly ribbed stitching and alpaca-soft textures.

owner I have truly had a work-space with a network-community around me. I’m

The Brooklyn-based fashion designer was three-months pregnant and hiking

excited for the possibilities of the future community in the fuller-building where

in Peru when she felt that rare moment of pure clarity. “The epiphany happened

our studio is located,” she says. And she’s already getting the ball rolling with

while staring out into the mountains. I wanted to embrace the change that was

events catered to the upstate female community. “I hosted my first Summer Sale

about to happen with us starting a family and also wanted to challenge myself

event in our space with three other women-owned brands from the building: Lake

with a new entrepreneurial way of working,” she says. It was always a dream of

& Skye (A fragrance brand and my direct studio neighbor), Found My Animal (Pet

Carnevale’s to helm her own knitwear line; so she took the leap, quit her job as

accessories that raise awareness of animal adoption) and River Mint Refinery

Senior Women’s Designer at Club Monaco, and started planning to launch her

(A women’s boutique opening in Kingston in the Fall and founder of Candle

brand, Eleven Six.

brand: Night Space). We’d love to start producing more events for women in the

With a budding business and a new baby on the way, Carnevale and 26

community.” And indeed, she will.

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TH TOGE ER WE ALL THRIVE “ SO MY COMMUNITY SPIRIT COMES FROM FINDING A PLACE WHERE I BELONG AND LOVE THE LIFE THAT I LIVE AND WANT TO KEEP IMPROVING UPON THAT UPWARD MOTION”

PAMELA MAYER

Portrait MO R IA H A SLA N

IF YOU’VE EVER FOUND YOURSELF ON MAIN STREET in Narrowsburg,

become a Sullivan County holiday shopping staple. With a focus on celebrating

chances are you’ve run into Pamela Mayer. Her namesake store has been situated

local makers, Mayer worked alongside Madame Fortuna proprietor Alison Ward

on that thoroughfare since 2006, way before Narrowsburg became the small-

to cultivate an array of booths to showcase items from regional makers, designers,

town destination it is today. It appears far from a coincidence, then, that the

artists, farmers, and entrepreneurs in upstate NY. “We both all moved to this area

hamlet’s revitalization dovetailed with Mayer opening up her fashion boutique,

and struggled in the beginning with how to move forward as makers and designers,

MayerWasner. Her ethically-minded and sustainably-driven boutique is just the

with this thought process we evolved IndieMart into a haven for the many talented

first of Mayer’s many pursuits as a player in the local community.

people in our area,” she says.

Mayer’s connection with Sullivan County began when the designer landed a

There’s no denying that Mayer has invested deeply in the community. “We all

coveted internship with conceptual artist and clothing designer J. Morgan Puett. It

thrive together so my community spirit comes from finding a place where I belong

was there that Pamela learned the fundamentals of fashion design and production:

and love the life that I live and want to keep improving upon that upward motion.

sourcing materials, dying textiles, pattern-making, and tailoring. Upon graduation,

The best part of being in this community is the sense of belonging, of finding my

she was hired as a pattern maker and worked under the tutelage of Gary Graham,

home,” she says. As a board member of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA),

a designer whose pieces can be found hanging in her boutique today. J. Morgan

Mayer recently worked alongside her husband, architect Karl Wasner, to redesign

Puett eventually established an artist colony upstate, saying goodbye to her New

the Alliance’s storefront gift shop in Narrowsburg. Again, the designer focused on

York City studio. Mayer quickly followed suit. “My husband Karl and I rented our

curating a rotating selection of locally-made items.

first studio in Narrowsburg in 1999 and we fell in love with the water and the crew

Her next venture is far from the likes of civic responsibilities or design; it’s

of people who inhabited Narrowsburg. I found my fellow creatives here. There is a

actually jam—another thing Mayer enjoys the process of making. “I am a secret

real sense of beauty and pride in this town.”

jam maker of Pam’s Slow Jams. I can’t say where it will end up but I am working

Her interest in uplifting the local community culminated in another enduring venture: IndieMart, an independent artisans’ market each December that’s

on growing this very small hobby into something else. I love the journey of getting there!”

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THE THINGS

WE HAD ON HAND LESSONS FROM INEZ VALK’S BLOOMVILLE EATERY TABLE ON TEN

By AL EXAND RA M ARVAR Photography MICHAE L MUNDY

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LEFT: The guest house was an old artist studio, now on AirBnB it’s rarely empty ABOVE: the kitchen of the guest house is kept simple TOP: the guest house tucked into the layers of the garden OPPOSITE: Light and air fill the bedroom. A painting by the artist Pia Dehne hangs in the rear

INEZ VALK’S PASSIVE SOL AR, EARTH-BERMED HOUSE in Delaware County

In Valk’s early 20s, her career as a model brought her from Amsterdam to

is two octagons joined by a kitchen in the center; its footprint looks like the

New York. “But it was a job I found utterly boring,” she’s quick to say. “A great

diagram of a molecule. We sit down in the living room, under an asterisk of

opportunity as a young kid to travel and see bits and pieces of the world, but

exposed ceiling beams in the main octagon. Around us are vintage school

other than that…”—the “model-turned restauranteur” angle of Table On Ten’s

desk chairs, raw wood, and earth tones, perfectly arranged porcelain plates

press doesn’t feel right to her at all.

on display—each one different—and the strainer full of wild blueberries Valk picked just before I arrived, set next to an issue of Diner Journal. I ask her about her sense of design. “That’s too much credit, to call it ‘design,’ Valk says. “It’s just what was on hand.”

Her bookshelves line two walls. My eye is drawn to all the bold one-word titles: BREAD. MEAT. SALTIE. GJELINA. Valk circumnavigates the thought, searching for a graceful way to say it: A brilliant thing about living upstate is that you connect with people who are

She points out stark, simple bookshelves from a local sawmill; a sheepskin

different from you. Older people, younger people, with different occupations,

from the woman who supplied her restaurant with lamb; pillows made by “two

of different orientations — people you wouldn’t be likely to connect within the

guys who make pillows in Delhi.” When she arrived, the floors were done in

city. “There’s a much more diverse community,” Valk says, “and you need them.”

terrible terra cotta tiles the color of vodka sauce. An artist who worked front-of-

When she relocated from New York, she needed firewood, produce,

house at the restaurant, Laura Taylor, emulated the style of Phoenician plaster

techniques to manage the weather and the climate in a place where the seasons

to redo them in a swirly, warm-gray finish that looks like the surface of a frozen

are extreme and where day-to-day life is a constant physical engagement. She

pond at night.

began to find her community.

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Inez at Table on Ten in one of the dining rooms; a mixed salad; dumpster diving in Brooklyn provided these former school chairs and tables throughout the restaurant

Early on, Valk bought a big, white building on Route 10 in Bloomville. It had

“We started out with two sandwiches and a really good espresso machine,”

offices for renting out, and extra rooms for hosting friends from the city. “At first,

she says. “A couple of months later, we added a brick pizza oven.” Pizza was

it was simply a community gathering place,” Valk says. “I thought of it as kind

something Valk felt confident she could do well. Plus, she thought of pizzas like

of a beehive. A physical space to come together, especially when everything is

canvases — the perfect way to showcase local ingredients. “We kept it simple,”

digital. It filled a need. But I knew it could not be this exclusive clubhouse for

she says, “and when I say ‘we,’ I mean a team.” There was someone manning the

people from the city. I needed to do something that would bring all kinds of

oven, someone stretching the dough, someone propping the toppings, someone

people in.”

washing the dishes, someone keeping the books, local suppliers for every item

What—for all these different kinds of people—could be the common denominator that would bring her upstate world together? Well, she thought, everyone loves food.

Valk had no background in restaurants—unless you count having helped

they served.

Diners came to Table on Ten from hours down the river, and from just up the road. Thursday to Sunday, it’s full of first-time visitors and familiar faces from all walks, who feast on what Valk calls honest, down-to-earth, delicious food.

make pies and lay the floor for her friends at Four & Twenty Blackbirds in

“The community of young people is bigger than it looks when you drive

Gowanus, Brooklyn while waiting for her work permit years ago. But eight

through Delaware County. I don’t want to use the word homesteading, but, we

summers ago, on the bottom floor of her big white building in Bloomville, she

were all figuring out the same things at the same time,” Valk says. When she

threw open the doors to her own restaurant. This was Table on Ten.

first arrived, everyone wanted to learn how to grow their own food, to garden, to build, to use what was on hand.

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Mixing granola; the entrance to Table on Ten; a chicken liver mousse focaccia sandwich with pickled fennel, pickled onions, smoked ham, cilantro and arugula; flea market finds adorn the walls in a dining area

On hand, Valk realized she had an amazing bounty, from maple syrup to raw milk to cows, chickens, and sheep. The Table On Ten team began to build

at other opportunities. Some of them she can’t discuss just yet. “I can say I’m definitely not opening another restaurant.” (She can’t stress this enough.)

a network of local producers. When she saw the breadth of what was available,

There is one project she is ready to talk about: As Table On Ten grew more

she became obsessed with sourcing ingredients as locally as possible. “We had

popular, and as Valk sought to find her footing in the restaurant world, she found

this map of ingredients within a certain radius,” she recalls. “At one point, we

a mentor in Elizabeth Schula of Williamsburg’s Saltie sandwich shop, who has

realized we could even get salt from Seneca Lake. It was going too far!” And in

since also become a confidant, friend, and collaborator. Now, they’re working

the spirit of her not-quite-design knack for using what’s on hand, the space is a

on a cookbook — to Valk, the perfect last chapter in the Table On Ten adventure.

reflection of the work of local craftsmen and local artists, offering up what they can.

It must be hard to imagine letting go of something you created from scratch, I say. The restaurant is like an extension of herself — the people she wanted

We’re on the stone patio in front of the octagons, and it’s threatening

around her, the food she wanted to eat, the paintings on the wall she wanted to

rain. For all eight years of its life, Valk has been “in the trenches” at Table On Ten,

look at every day — and that’s a strange thing to leave in someone else’s care.

involved in its every phase of operation. If she’s honest, she says the restaurant

But now it waits on the market, ready for a new owner. “It’s scary,” Valk says,

was always just a five-year plan, meant to propel her on to some other phase of

as raindrops start to land on the stone around us. “But I’m ready for something

her life. “Five turned into eight,” she tells me. “Now, it’s a profitable business.”

different.” Whatever she finds next, we suspect she’ll make the most of it.

And, it has Airbnb rentals and a beloved brand with praise from Vogue. But that’s no reason to hang around. “I want to change things up,” Valk says, hinting

For more purchase information on Table on Ten, view our real estate listings on page 77 33

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THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

WORK LIFE BALANCE

By AL E XANDRA MARVAR Photography NOAH K ALINA

WHEN LAUREL & ASH SELLS OUT OF SMALL-BATCH MAPLE SYRUP, THEY CAN GIVE UP, OR THEY CAN SCALE UP It’s the end of fennel season and I’m stepping lightly through the tall grasses behind ASHLEY RUPRECHT’s and JEFFREY SCHAD’s pump house toward one of their gardens. She points out black vernissage tomatoes, cucumbers, honey nut squashes, fennel, herbs, Mexican sour gherkins that look like watermelons the size of kumquats.

IT’S HOT IN THE WORLD, BUT COOL IN THE WOODS at Laurel & Ash Farm

she does alongside her husband to make this operation go. 50 gallons of sap

in Holmes, New York, and our stroll meanders across a tiny, lush corner of its

yield one gallon of syrup and to cook it down, this sugaring machine practically

52 acres. Ruprecht leads me next into the sugar house her dad, an architect,

incinerates firewood. The size of a smart car’s cab, it gets refilled every seven

designed for them. It matches the pump house — slate gray paint on tall,

minutes. Unluckily, a tornado took out hundreds of trees on their friends’

wide wood panels. While I’ve seen taps and buckets on a few trees in my day,

property in New Fairfield recently, but luckily, Laurel & Ash will take firewood

the structures and the vast network of pipes and vacuum lines running in a vast

from wherever they can get it. “Jeffrey just cut six cords of wood over there.

grid between the trees across their property, like the physical evidence of a

The next batch we make will be tornado-powered.”

digital matrix, is next-level — Laurel & Ash’s maple syrup operation is no longer just a hobby.

Inside the sugar house are a series of shiny metal vats and vessels where a

The things that get made at Laurel & Ash Farm aren’t limited to fresh produce, shareable plant seedlings, and boutique, home-bottled maple syrup in four hues. Ruprecht turns out artful, high-end ladies’ hats under the banner

wood-fueled evaporator steams the water out of sap to make wood-fired syrup.

Faeth Millinery — a business holdover from the couple’s past life in a Meeker

“Our sap sauna,” Ruprecht says. She’s slender and elegant and wearing warm-

Avenue loft in Greenpoint, which they said goodbye to in 2016 — anise-hyssop

tint aviators and I’m having a hard time picturing the extreme physical work

handmade bar soap; and hickory nocino (it looks like syrup — but, Ruprecht

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Nicole surveys the kitchen as her team preps the line

“I’VE LEARNED THERE ARE SOME THINGS I HAVE TO LET GO, TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN EVERYTHING” says, it’s a little higher proof). Jeffrey, a photographer and media producer,

to do it again. With the new pump house and sugar house, the fresh network

has lined the living room walls with prints of his stunning portraiture, and one

of vacuum lines, mentorship from their maple guru John at Catskill Mountain

mint-green motorcycle of his own making, leaning provocatively on its kickstand

Sugar House, and full dedication, they tapped 500 trees February to April.

beneath an exposed beam in the middle of the living room.

“We were aiming for 1000 taps,” Ruprecht admits. “We didn’t quite make it.”

But their main focus now is the maple syrup. A friend in Germany worked

But half that is a feat, with all that work split between just the two of them.

with them to design the packaging and logo. Together they landed on the

(Well, two-plus — as of mid-summer, the couple is six months pregnant.)

current concept: matte black labels on clear glass bottles that look like top-shelf

I was bowled over by the millinery and year-round syrup sales, and that was

liquor, gold-embossed strips dividing the sections of the label into separated

before I heard about bringing handmade soaps to the farmer’s market,

segments evocative of farmland from an aerial view. The first year, Ruprecht

and Ruprecht’s part-time job in marketing for Stone Ridge’s Hasbrouck House,

and Schad discovered on their property they had laurel trees, and ash trees,

and the forthcoming baby. I ask her for her time management secret, hoping

and — wow — a lot of sugar maples. They cooked down sap over an open fire,

for an easy answer. “I’ve learned there are some things I have to let go,”

and sent home friends with it, delicious and full of sugar-sand and woodfire

Ruprecht says, “to find a balance between everything.” She’s cut back on the

ashes, perfect for desserts or breakfasts or maple-vinegar meat marinades

millinery for now — custom orders only. In part, she says a focus on the syrup

or salad dressing or coffee sweetener. The second year, they decided to try

business “helps our family” more than the cumulative effect of all the other

larger-scale production. They tapped a hundred trees and made the rounds

output. It’s strange to imagine something as easy to look past as what type of

two to three times a day, emptying buckets, sometimes in snowshoes, a heavy

trees grow on your property could change one’s family, one’s work, one’s whole

bucket full of sap in each hand. For several months of the late winter and early

life. But when Ruprecht and her husband came to Laurel & Ash, they had their

spring, was very hard work. When the next fall rolled around, neither could wait

eyes open. And three years later, she sees lots of room to grow.

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A CONVERSATION WITH

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

HASBEENS & WILLBEES’ KAI KUHNE & JOHN MOLLETT

Interview M ICHA E L M U N DY Photography S T E P HAN S C H AC H ER

In the early 2000s, the fashion collective As Four was one of the biggest names on the downtown New York City scene—and KAI KÜHNE, the German-born designer, was its most audacious member, a constant (and colorful) fixture in the nightclubs of the era. Since moving to upstate New York several years ago, he and his partner, JOHN MOLLETT, have brought some of that wild energy to a new endeavor: the experimental auction house Hasbeens & Willbees.

Here, Kühne and Mollett talk about their philosophy behind the project, their approach to collecting, and the creative inspiration they find in upstate NY. 38

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Michael Mundy: Let’s start at the beginning. When

MM: So Hasbeens & Willbees is about creating

did you guys meet, and what were you doing then?

a platform to highlight young talent.

Kai Kühne: I think when we first met, I was designing

KK: Exactly! And highlighting “has-beens”—

a line called Myself.

old pieces that embody great quality, love,

KK: Well, the freedom to be able to buy and

John Mollett: It was June of 2008. I was working at

and care that went into fabricating furniture or

sell anything, work on your own schedule, and

a Swiss gallery in Midtown. I did that for four years,

objects or art. There is a lot of curation in the

not be limited to a location. We have this location,

and then when the economy crashed, we both kind

whole thing. It’s like an underground fashion

but with what we do, we can go anywhere and kind

of said, “Let’s do something together.”

show meets an art opening. These were the things

of set it and explore.

KK: I didn’t even realize that the economy

that excited me about being in New York City.

was crashing.

And then feeling a void of that now—we’d like

MM: That sounds like fun. I’m curious, you

to fill that void, here and in the city, with these

both have had very successful careers in the city.

kinds of events.

What inspired you to move upstate full-time?

Freedom is very important.

MM: What do you mean by freedom?

MM: So you guys met in the city. How long were you there before you started coming upstate?

MM: I rarely get to see so many objects the

KK: It wasn’t a decision like, “Let’s move upstate.”

JM: I was still at the gallery, and Kai was doing

way you have them presented, in such a relaxed

It was more an organic process. I would come

some fashion consulting. We would go up and buy

environment. Usually, objects of this caliber are

up and visit this area a lot and visit my friend

at auctions. I grew up in the auction world.

found somewhere fabulous, and it’s a little

[the fashion designer] Victoria Bartlett. So then I

My grandmother took me to auctions as a kid,

“don’t touch, don’t go near.” It feels incredibly

decided, “Why not have a weekend place here?”

and my mother worked in an auction house.

undiscovered. Kai, I never actually associated

We started looking and found this house.

you with objects. I’ve always associated you with

It wasn’t like a vacation house…

KK: For me, the auctions were totally new.

fashion. Clearly, you’ve had a long time to think

The magic was seeing the people at an auction

about these things. Were you always interested

with some of the greatest and most random things

in the design of objects?

JM: It was a storage unit in the beginning.

KK: We had tons of stuff in the city.

people were worshipping. It was like church meets a fashion show, without all the beautiful people

KK: It’s been something I’ve been gravitating

and glamour. Fashion and art had become very

towards and seeing within fashion. Architecture,

JM: And instead of paying storage fees,

commercialized and had lost its magic. So we

design, and fashion became an obsession.

we decided to buy a house.

had this vision: Auctions could be performance art

Fashion is all aspects of design on the human

and openings where friends and family gather to

body—you influence the world by wearing great

KK: We tell all of our friends, especially in

celebrate beauty and objects.

designs—while architecture and objects are stable.

fashion—with all their stuff—that it’s like buying

JM: We created a platform where we could

With Hasbeens and Willbees, there’s a combination

a house for your kid.

showcase the things so many of our friends had

of all of these aspects, while also being an auction

JM: In the beginning, this house was rough,

collected but wanted to sell. There are so many

house. Not being pinpointed to just one genre or

really rough. We would just bring stuff up, little

amazing people in New York, young and old

one industry—with its limitations and judgments

by little, and then all of a sudden it was like,

(has-been and will-be)—we wanted to create a

from that industry—there’s great freedom within

“Hey, that’s pretty cool. That should go there.”

platform where their things could have a home.

that, and we would love to keep it that way.

It organically became a home.

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“NEW YORK HAS A HUGE INFLUENCE AND IT’S VERY IMPORTANT. IT’S STILL HOME AND THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH, BUT MY WORLD, OUR WORLD IS INTERNATIONAL” KK: We fell in love with living here and realized

Can you elaborate on that? Who and what

pander or cater to anyone in particular. It has

that doing our projects and doing our work was

attracts you?

a very refined sensibility. It’s very quiet. Objects slowly unfold as you move through your space.

still possible from up here.

KK: I’ll be your mirror to reflect what you are.

I’ve walked through your showroom three times,

MM: Did you ever feel like you were letting go

It’s the greatest way to thoughts of greatness—

and each time I saw something completely new.

of New York City when you moved up here?

by having the judgment of others around.

Things slowly reveal themselves at such a relaxed

And if you have something to give and you’re

pace. This isn’t your typical interior design or

KK: Not really. I used to be downtown and full-on

not shy of criticizing, you can help others to

antique showroom. There’s a real kind of edge

in the heart of everything and rocking that place.

become their best.

to it, but it’s very subtle. There is something very sexy and irreverent all at the same time, while also

And then we moved to Midtown, and suddenly I MM: What makes a good collaboration for you?

being sophisticated and mature.

everybody—but I still existed and was fine.

KK: I think good collaboration is being vulnerable

KK: Thank you. It is a constant struggle.

I had my connections, and all the relevant things

and opening yourself up to criticism so that you

The capitalist system of consuming is doomed

in my life still happened. I realized that I don’t have

can develop certain strengths as an individual—

and is the source of all evil for humanity—

to be there to exist. Just being a few miles and a

to protect your core, to be open to influences,

probably worse than the atomic bomb—but it

wasn’t in my village anymore—running through the village square every day and knowing

few hours further away wasn’t going to change it.

to become the greater you.

can also be utilized in a positive way, and that’s our humble approach, to do whatever we can do.

New York has a huge influence, and it’s very important. It’s still home and the greatest place

MM: So it’s that immediate feedback, and you

It’s a struggle, too. We want to reach as many

on earth, but my world, our world, is international.

kind of bounce off each other.

people as we can, make money, survive, build, and grow—not only to be rich but to grow and

I go twice a year to Paris. My best friends are in London, Berlin, and Paris. My world is everywhere.

KK: Immediate feedback, either verbal or emotional

spread the word. At the same time, we want to be

Besides, nature is the most wonderful place to be.

—you feel it. And then if you open yourself up, you

evolved, interesting, subversive, and inspiring.

Upstate is really a state of mind in a certain way,

can either take the information or stand up for

To find that balance, we’re constantly struggling.

you know?

what you believe in. It’s a constant struggle, and I

I think that [Hasbeens and Willbees] has a little

think you develop a strong character through that.

bit of that outcome, but then leaves you with a

MM: So you never feel like you’re losing your edge

subtleness that is not so in your face.

MM: I like collaboration myself, because I find

JM: People ask why aren’t we selling on Instagram.

sometimes it just takes it to another level that

I think it’s important that it’s not just one story.

KK: No! It’s very funny. My mom was like,

you didn’t expect it to go to, and that’s because

It’s about what else is going on in the story of this

“Aren’t you afraid you won’t be inspired?”

you keep pushing each other.

piece. What other human being is in there.

JM: It’s kind of the opposite, because being

KK: Both the egos have to be equal. And you have

MM: It seems what you have going on in your

here allows room for you to pinpoint more.

to lose a lot of fear. As we know, [the filmmaker

space is more like a conversation. Often you go

By being here, we don’t have to constantly keep

Rainer Werner] Fassbinder says, “Fear eats

into places, and it is about the individual object.

up with other people’s expectations.

the soul.” So if you lose fear and you become

But here, there’s a dialogue that goes on between

KK: We are very lucky, though. We have a pool

stronger, your soul becomes stronger. I think

all your pieces. You need to be here to experience

of the greatest people in the city—super-talented

that’s something to live for.

that. It wouldn’t translate as well online. I like that.

being up here?

And I’m like, “No!”

As a person in New York City, I’m going to have

people, real creators. They’re our friends, our creative pool, that we are constantly connected

MM: So you’re up here, you’re still part of the

to go upstate to your place to experience this,

with. While in other worlds…in some parts of

world. It sounds like you don’t miss anything

or attend one of your events. You need to be

fashion, you’re either in or out. My fellow

because you’re just comfortable where you are.

present to experience it fully.

German Heidi Klum says, “You’re either in or

Have you always been that kind of person that

you’re out.” That doesn’t work for us. So that’s

lives in the moment?

KK: Yeah, you get more.

Willbees. If something is great, it’s great forever.

KK: I believe so. I believe I’m trying to be like

MM: Yes, this was way more than I had expected.

JM: By being here, we can work outside and take

that, and naturally, I am like that all the time.

Thank you both. I’m thrilled to have met you,

a little more time to sift through what it is and

There is no past. There is no future. I try to make

and I want to come back again and spend

who it is we want to engage with.

the moment the best I can. Stagnation is hell.

more time here.

MM: You seem to really believe in collaboration.

MM: Hasbeens and Willbees doesn’t seem to

KK: Awesome, and don’t forget to shop.

part of our whole philosophy with Hasbeens and

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TWO WITH NATURE

HELENA CHRISTENSEN & CAMILLA STAERK ON CREATIVE COLLABORATION Let’s start with the basics: HELENA CHRISTENSEN is a globally famous photographer and model, one of the “magnificent seven”—along with Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, and Claudia Schiffer—who inspired the term “supermodel” in the 1990s. CAMILLA STAERK is a fashion designer with a stark (no pun intended), sculptural vision that references historical and modern art, with a gothic severity of line and form. They’re Danes and want you to know it. And, like many of us, they’re NYC creatives who understand that our region can be the most fertile of muses.

By E DD I E B R A N N A N Photography J A KO B F. S.

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“TRIPS DEFINITELY BROADEN ONE’S HORIZON BUT WHERE YOU COME FROM AND HOW YOU WERE BROUGHT UP, WHAT HISTORY YOU BRING WITH YOU, IS WHAT LAYS THE FOUNDATION”

THEIR COLL ABOR ATION BEGAN almost two decades ago. In 2000 Christensen

backgrounds, I was curious as to what linked their endeavors, both individually

was living in NYC and had recently cofounded Nylon magazine. Staerk was

and collectively. “A dark romance,” Staerk replies. “Our mutual love for our birth

living in London, had studied fashion and textiles, sold her graduate collection to

country and Danish designers through the times, plus our love for nature.” She

career-launchpad boutique Browns, and was about to debut at London Fashion

further explains that there’s an inherent melancholy that runs through the creative

Week. Christensen shot her portrait and the collection for the magazine, and the

endeavors of Scandinavians, as well as an appreciation of the organic. Perhaps

chemistry was instant: “We completely clicked creatively and personally that day,”

this is something to do with the degree to which Norse people are so profoundly

Staerk recalls. The two went on to shoot Staerk’s first lookbook on the streets of

affected by the vicissitudes and harshness of their climate. Dark winters inspire

Prague, casting the models and hair and makeup talent. The result was a little

melancholy poetry; abundant summers drive the need to create, build, and grow.

hand-bound, limited-edition book, which the two still view as emblematic of their creative partnership. “To this day it really sums up our bond and how our

I ask Christensen how photography and modeling had shaped her as a creative

sensibilities meet,” says Staerk.

individual, and what they contributed to Staerk&Christensen. “I have done both

That alignment continued over the years, and the two collaborated with various

careers alongside each other all these years and am constantly learning from

brands on special projects, including a loungewear collection for Anthropologie

one to use in the other,” she replies. “[Modeling] is more silent and emotional,

under the name Edith 11 and a jewelry collection for Danish heritage watch brand

and [photography] is more engaging and collaborative.” Staerk and Christensen

Skagen. Eventually, 15 years after they met, the pair formed Staerk&Christensen, a

make films together. Their website features a series of shorts—elegant, heavily

multidisciplinary studio that “dabbles” (as their website modestly puts it) in fashion,

stylized, mostly black-and-white. The one entitled “Camilla & Helena” is perhaps

furniture, architecture, photography, film, and more.

the most self-indulgent, a flickering silent film composed of lingering shots of

So how do a model and photographer and a designer and artist approach,

each of them, set to an artificial soundtrack of an old film projector. And while

say, an architectural project? The duo was approached by Revolution Precrafted,

Christensen is one of the most famous beauties of her era, Staerk, too, is striking,

a producer of starchitect-designed prefab buildings, to design their version of a

with exceptional bone structure and the arched, plucked eyebrows of a 1920s film

Scandinavian cabin. Their process was to huddle and sketch, and after the first

starlet; she wears a veil shockingly well. The other films have different narrative

session the concept—a swallow’s wings—was complete. The result is a suite of

arcs—Salman Rushdie recounts a surreal childhood dream; Sean Penn struggles

purchasable structures: a dwelling, a gym, and a summer pavilion with an elegant,

with writer’s block at a typewriter until he is visited by a mysterious black-clad

arching roof that trails to slender descenders composed of lacquered black wood

figure (Christensen)—but all are somewhat eerie, moody, and fall under the genre

that do indeed resemble the wingspan of a swallow. In the collaboration, the duo

of “fashion film.”

joins an illustrious roster of architects commissioned by the firm, including Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Philip Johnson.

Given the diverse media in which the studio works, and the pair’s distinct 46

Travel is a constant muse for the duo, and they frequently explore new pastures together, but, as Staerk explains, there’s a circularity to travel in that it’s always, ultimately, about homecoming. “We always return to our Danish heritage

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STYLE

Photographer JAKO B F. S. Stylist O W EN GO UL D Beauty AL IC E L ANE Hair O W EN GO UL D Producer M AT EEN M O RTAZ AV I

“I ALSO LOVE

THE ENERGY AND INSPIRATION A CRAZY CITY GIVES ME BUT IN NATURE, MY BREATH AND MY THOUGHTS FLOW EASIER AND I WANT TO CREATE” for direction. Trips definitely broaden one’s horizon, but where you come from and how you were brought up, what history you bring with you, is what lays the foundation.”

Travel also means leaving New York City for upstate. Of the pair, Christensen was the one who first discovered the beauty of our region. “A photographer friend did a shoot with my son and me in his Catskills home,” she says, “and I fell in love.”

Soon after she found a “rough diamond” of a house with a river on the grounds, and committed. The river was of particular importance to Christensen. Denmark, like the Catskills, is a land of lakes and streams, and Christensen is a devotee of freezing cold waterways. “When I jump in a freezing river at Christmastime, I feel closer to what it’s all about than ever. I feel very present, clear, and consciously raw in nature, especially when I’m swimming, so the mountains and rivers are heaven sent to me.” The region also functions as an antidote to the pressure cooker that is NYC. “Being in wild nature stimulates all my senses and stirs my inner creativity,” Christensen said. “I also love the energy and inspiration a crazy city gives me, but in nature, my breath and my thoughts flow easier and I want to create.”

In fact, the very process of heading out of the city begins a creative catharsis and work session for the two. They typically begin brainstorming new Staerk&Christensen projects in the car on the drive upstate, and then work on the key elements and details over the next few days, storyboarding photography and sketching out ideas. The fertility of the region drives creativity for Staerk and Christensen. “Everything seems to become so crystal-clear when here,” explains Staerk. “It deeply resonates with me and gives me a feeling of balance in life. It is the most inspirational place for us to work, as we are both so grounded in and inspired by nature.”

I think we would all agree.

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A GIMME SHELTER

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THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE

PASSION PRESERVED It

is

not

s u r prisi n g

t h at

t he

skeleton sitting in PAT RICK

ROBINSON’s cellar

is beautiful: simple but elegant, voluptuous yet sleek. For the past few years, the fashion designer has been crafting the shell of a barrel-back boat out of mahogany, meticulously taking his cues from a blueprint from the late 1930s. The frame sits upside down on a trailer in what was originally the garage of his country house in the Hudson Valley, awaiting for the planks to be sanded, planed, bent to fit the hull and fastened to it. When will it be finished? “Maybe never,” says the 53-year old who loves to show off his collection of precision-edged planes and other tools. Maybe the vessel will be launched nearby, in Copake Lake, and Robinson will move on to building a sailboat to be used on the Hudson River. “Building from a blueprint is super hard, I love it, it takes away all my stress. This is where I find my flow.”

By D O RIS C H EVRO N Photography MICHAE L MUNDY

50

51

One of t wo Frank Gehr y designed “Hat Trick” ply wood chairs for Knoll from DWR under “Abstract Horse Neck III”

by Steven Klein

IT IS NOT SU R PR IS IN G TH AT TH E S K ELE TON sitting in Patrick Robinson’s

fashion companies from Giorgio Armani (as a creative director at age 24) to Anne

cellar is beautiful: simple but elegant, voluptuous yet sleek. For the past few years,

Klein and Perry Ellis to The GAP, three years ago Robinson started Paskho, a line

the fashion designer has been crafting the shell of a barrel-back boat out of

of cool essentials for fashion-conscious travelers. Its name derives from a Greek

mahogany, meticulously taking his cues from a blueprint from the late 1930s. The

word for passion. “You are constantly looking to navigate uphill, through the valley

frame sits upside down on a trailer in what was originally the garage of his country

from start-up to a sustainable, profitable company,” he says. Building his boat

house in the Hudson Valley, awaiting for the planks to be sanded, planed, bent to

— just as keeping bees, tending a flock of chicken, building stone walls, drafting

fit the hull and fastened to it. When will it be finished? “Maybe never,” says the 53-

a master plan to plant more trees, and a myriad of other projects that might or

year old who loves to show off his collection of precision-edged planes and other

might not include a flock of goats — help him stay on a forward path. He adds,

tools. Maybe the vessel will be launched nearby, in Copake Lake, and Robinson

“Breaking out of your everyday comfort zone opens up my best thinking.”

will move on to building a sailboat to be used on the Hudson River. “Building from

To break out you have to build first. Robinson, who grew up in California and

a blueprint is super hard, I love it, it takes away all my stress. This is where I find

started to make patterns for swim trunks he designed for his surfing buddies at age

my flow.”

10, and his wife Virginia Smith, the fashion director of Vogue, have built their zone

The flow feeds his passion. After a career turning around and revitalizing 52

in Columbia County. While renting a Stanford White designed carriage house on

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Below, the guest loft is dominated by a massive rustic twig bed

The dining table, a custom piece by the design firm Bonetti/Kozerski, is surrounded by Zaha chairs from Jayson Home. Patrick Robinson loves to cook for his guests, but “never the same dish twice”

UP HERE,

“

PEOPLE... CAN CONNECT TO NATURE. I NEED TO BE UNPLUGGED” an estate facing the Hudson in nearby Rhinebeck, the couple took their time to look

unplugged, “ says Robinson who cherishes his extensive runs along empty country

for the right property. “I was obsessed with finding a barn,” says Robinson. “But

lanes under a canopy of cathedral trees.

most places that had been converted into living spaces had all the beautiful old wood hidden and covered up.”

To achieve their goal of bringing “as much of the outside in as possible,” the couple hired the Manhattan design firm Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture, who had

They finally found the perfect spot just before their son Wyeth was born in

previously redone their city digs. Instead of rearranging the existing rooms, the

2003. Sitting on a country road quiet enough to allow the chickens to roam, the

architects — whose work Smith and Robinson had fallen in love with after seeing

property came with a towering silo, a pond full of turtles, and a cow barn from the

Donna Karan’s “very zen” Central Park West apartment — proposed an addition

19th century. The barn featured a double-story center and lower wings on both

which now contains the master bedroom, bathroom, as well Wyeth’s quarters.

sides where the cattle used to winter.

Much thought and time have been dedicated to finding beams to match the

Looking upstate and not in the Hamptons was a very deliberate choice. “If

ones visible throughout the original structure, defining the ceilings and many of

you go there [to the Hamptons] you want to be seen, at the right dinners, the

the walls. “History has left its marks here,” says Robinson who chides Spoon, a 1

right parties, with the right people, and at the right beach. All that is stressing

1/2-year-old Bernedoodle, for happily adding more marks by trying to dig up the

people out. Up here, people escape that and can connect to nature. I need to be

pine floor. It seems that every door is different, many made out of wood formerly 53

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JOHNNY PIZZOLATO

By J ILLIA N SCHE IN F E LD Photography N OA H K A LI NA

Not unlike most city expats who settle in Sullivan County, JOHNNY PIZZOLATO wears many hats. The showroom owner and former rock musician settled part-time in Sullivan County shortly after being introduced to his current hamlet of Barryville. Alongside husband Roswell Hamrick, Pizzolato jumped right into paving his way in the community and launched The Stickett Inn in 2011, a designfocused hotel that functions as a gathering space and getaway destination. You can thank his mother for the cheeky, brilliant names of both Pizzolato-built establishments: The Stickett Inn and the adjacent Bang Bang Bar. Locally, Pizzolato is known for his dedication to reviving The Barryville Farmers Market and his position on the board of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Committee.

We spoke with him about his fashion career, local politics, and making lasting change in small communities.

When did you get into the fashion industry?

And then we started Stickett Inn Cider in 2017, which

It’s amazing to see how you can make an impact in

I started my fashion career when I was a budding rock

enabled us to have a bar, called the Bang Bang Bar.

a smaller community and really evoke change.

star. I would go out on tour and bring friends of mine’s

I consider Barryville home even more than my

The leadership here is great, but navigating the

look books to different stores. I got my first commission

apartment in the city at this point.

conventions and processes can be tricky. Everyone has been receptive and helpful with our projects, but

check selling my friend Carlos Campos’ clothing line called Guido; it ended up selling really well. I fell into it

Innkeepers are often exposed to an entire community.

it’s not like my political life in the city, where everyone

and realized I found my tribe pretty quickly. Soon after,

Do you see the locals and weekenders intermingling

is pretty much on the same page. Here, you can solely

I founded International Playground at the end of 2008.

harmoniously?

vote for one party or another, so you need to make

It began as a series of pop-up showrooms and pop

The bar is our best marketing tool because everyone

sure that a candidates’ policies are aligned with yours

up stores in NYC and Paris. We became permanent

walks in. It’s a local bar, so anybody who moves up

or the greater good. People running for office are not

in 2010. The concept was to have a store and a

here sort of reports to the Stickett Inn when they first

always representative of the party’s values that they

showroom all in one. Some time passed and I

arrive. It’s great because we get to meet people and

are running for— environmental issues in particular.

realized that it was too distracting to have the general

everyone seems to be glad that Barryville is thriving.

What about Barryville differentiates itself from

public coming in, so we separated the businesses.

We now do some sales, but primarily function as a

What roles have you taken on since?

other hamlets in Sullivan county?

press showroom.

My husband is the president of the chamber of

Barryville is one of the most supportive, uplifting

commerce and I’m on the board. I’m also a member

communities I’ve ever been a part of. When someone

Who are some designers you work with?

of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Committee.

is in need, this town rallies behind people and comes

I’ve been working with Chromat since I started the

When the farmer’s market was in jeopardy of leaving

together. From dinners and benefits to just lending a

agency. She started in experimental cages and has

Barryville, a group of us came together and reinvented

hand, it’s amazing to watch and be part of. It’s also

now graduated into swimwear. That’s inspired the rest

it here at our church. In the woods, you can make

located on the most beautiful stretch of the Delaware

of my clients to move into swimwear. We work with a

broader strokes and more noise about local issues—

River. It’s mysterious. There are so many incredible

lingerie company, Yes Master and Victoria Hayes, who

everything from voting to being active in the

artists and minds hiding in the woods.

we were introduced to by Madonna’s team because

community really matters.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone

we worked with her on a lot of tours. It’s fun to watch the different phases of our showroom, but now we’re

Tell me more about your farmer’s market project.

who was moving here full-time?

mostly swim-focused with some ready-to-wear.

We started small and have grown very fast.

Never cut your life-line to the city, but immerse

We wanted to build this market to be a platform

yourself in your surroundings. Everything you

What brought you to Sullivan County?

for the community, by the community. The United

need is here. It’s just flung all over the place.

My former husband bought a place up here 20 years

Methodist Church and the Conways, who own the

The journey and discovery can be quite

ago, but the first time I came up was with Josh Fox,

adjacent property, have been dream partners

beautiful. Also, get involved, build what you’d

who did the fracking movie, Gasland. My current

and hosts. The high school choir kicked off the

like to see happening.

husband, Roswell, lived in this fantastic church

entertainment series and several talented people

[in Barryville], and so as a reformed Catholic,

have played every week since. The location,

Do you have anything else in the works for the

I immediately fell in love. Then all of the buildings in

sprawling from Scenic Route 97 to overlooking

future of Barryville?

front of the church were up for sale, so I went to a

the Delaware River, is so incredible.

Always. We’d love to expand our business in one way or another, plant more gardens, get more public

bank auction and purchased all of them for the price of a car. We launched the Stickett Inn in 2011. My

So has your involvement in local politics evolved

art out there. We are never short on ideas or energy

mom came up with the very funny, punny name!

since you moved here?

in this community.

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Dress by Karl Lagerfeld Denim jacket by DKNY

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HOME GROWN

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MOLLY CONSTABLE’S BIG BREAK MOLLY CONSTABLE led a fairly quiet life as a small town girl from Tannersville, New York until something unimaginable happened to her when she was just 17 years old: a big-time modeling agent, one who had previously discovered stars including Ashton Kutcher and Karlie Kloss, reached out to her via her Instagram account.

Fast-forward to today, and as one of Vogue’s “Rising Faces to Watch,” Constable has decorated the glossy pages of major titles like Harper’s Bazaar and Playboy, and walked the runway for fellow headline-making, plus size model, Ashley Graham’s Addition Elle label. Working as a plus size model herself, Constable is often credited with pushing fashion’s body positivity needle forward, but for her, modeling is modeling, and she’d rather not be put into any one box.

By AL EXAND RIA H AECHLE R Photography HAROLD J ULIAN

THIS PAGE One shoulder cover up

by Red Carter swim OPPOSITE Silk Jacket

by Escada, ‘Haute couture’ Control top

by Spanx, jean short

by American Eagle

Alexandria Haechler: Molly, you’re a successful model

AH: You started modeling when you were 17. What was

going to happen. It’s probably just another guy telling

who’s worked with celebrated creative forces like Tom

that like as such a young girl?

you that you’re pretty.” But, then I told my mom to look [the agency] up and she saw that Mother Models had

Ford and Rihanna. You’ve graced the pages of Harper’s Bazaar and LOVE Magazine, and Interview has deemed

MC: I didn’t know anything— I didn’t know who anyone

discovered Karlie Kloss, Ashton Kutcher and Grace

you, “the perfect woman to make the fashion industry

was; I didn’t know any fashion designers; I didn’t know

Hartzel. So she let me go to St. Louis to meet Jeff Clark,

rethink its dated standards.” But, what the world doesn’t

what was good and what was bad. I had a little bit of

who is still my mother agent. He set up a shoot with a

know is that you’re a small town girl from Tannersville.

an idea because my mother agent had given me some

magazine in St. Louis called Alive and that was my first

Both of your parents are upstate New York natives, and

tips, but really for years, I felt like I was wearing blinders

job. Soon after, he sent me to New York where I signed

your childhood was spent mostly on mountains, not

walking into a job or casting. It was exciting though

with Ford Models.

in magazines. Tell me what it was like to be a kid in a

because I like to do new things and I love meeting new

small town upstate.

people so it was thrilling while being daunting too.

AH: And, what was that experience like for you? What

The unknown is really fun to me. Looking back, I think

was your first impression of working in Manhattan?

Molly Constable: Well, Tannersville is tiny. I graduated

it was a gift that I didn’t know much. I see the way that

with 30 kids in my class so I knew everyone. I knew their

I am versus the way that some other people are and I

MC: Well, just in general, coming from such a small

parents, and usually, I knew their grandparents too. My

think when you know what you want, you study it

town to New York City was terrifying to me. I didn’t

elementary school was located at the bottom of a ski re-

and you’re never surprised whereas I was constantly

know a thing, but I am really good at faking it so I just

sort so I spent a lot of time snowboarding. I also played

surprised with everything. I still am all the time and that

told myself to pretend that I belonged there even though

softball, soccer and basketball. My upbringing was

is a nice feeling.

I really didn’t at the time. I remember telling myself, “Okay, don’t let anyone think that you’re new here.

very sports driven, but I was also really close to my art teacher because I loved to draw. I loved art and I knew I

AH: Your first agent actually discovered you through

wanted to work in the creative realm in some way—

Instagram. What did your parents think when you first

I just didn’t have any money to go to college.

told them about the prospective gig?

AH: What was your first pinch-me moment in your career? Was there one moment where it sunk in that

As I got older, I wanted to get involved in fashion…

I had no idea that I would become a model.

You need to blend. Don’t look like a ‘newb.’”

MC: They were like, “Oh, that’s funny, but that’s not

you were really modeling professionally?

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THIS PAGE Crochet top by american eagle OPPOSITE Dress, necklace and belt by Lauren by Ralph Lauren Sterling silver by Jane Paris Jewellery Custom rings by Kate Best

Photographer HA R OLD J U LI A N Creative Director J OH N PAU L T R A N Stylist ISE W HITE Beauty KATE B E S T Hair EMILY SHE P H A R D Location DE E R M OU N TA I N I N N

MC: One of my first jobs ever was with Tom Ford for CR

AH: Is there still a blind spot to the modeling industry

come true. I don’t know if it was the idea of working for

Fashion Book. My agent, Gary, told me that I was going

that you wish would change?

Rihanna or being immersed in this extreme creativity that never ended, but it was incredible. Our first shoot was a

to fly to London to shoot with Tom Ford, and I remember saying, “Wow, that’s cool. He’s the owner of Ford Models,

MC: I would like to have designers realize that not

14 hour day with all of these different, intricate sets,

right?” I didn’t learn who he actually was until after the

everyone is a size zero and that they would have a much

and video people running around everywhere. We were

shoot. But, the job was me and two other models wearing

bigger market if they would use some of the bigger girls.

just immersed in art. It was a beautiful moment in time

lingerie and standing inside a box with all of these

It’s frustrating because we all wear designer clothes, but

for me.

random candies. Tom was suspended over the top of

none of us ever see ourselves represented in these ads.

AH: What has been the most surprising thing to you

us shooting while Carine was walking around the set speaking French and wearing her sunglasses. I remember

AH: Of course, when Playboy ran a feature on you,

thinking, “Wow, if this is what modeling is then I’m

you were written up about as a symbol of body positivity.

here for it.”

Do you see yourself this way?

about modeling?

MC: The lifestyle and the fact that I’m able to buy groceries and live in New York City. I never thought

AH: Now seven years into your modeling career,

MC: I find it a little bit frustrating that the only thing

I’d meet as many new people as I do in a day. I never

have you seen the industry change at all?

people want to write about is that if you have hips and

thought I’d have the opportunities to travel outside of the

a bust, you’re automatically body positive. I think that

US. I just never had any dreams like that because it never

MC: I mean it’s always growing and there will always

that is a lie. Of course, I’m always going to stand for

seemed like anything I was going to be able to do.

be room to grow in fashion, but I think as of today, the

individual body positivity, but I think that there are more

It’s the little things like looking in my passport and

possibilities seem endless. When I started, “plus size”

important things in the world to focus on than our bodies.

seeing that it’s filled, and that I’ve seen things and that I’ve lived in cities by myself. I’ve found a whole new

was on the industry’s radar, but I think that now there is diversity across all spectrums of communities including

AH: You’ve worked with Rihanna. What was that like

sense of freedom through modeling and I think that is

the LGBTQ community and all different races. I don’t yet

for you?

what’s so great about it: you learn how to be an adult; you learn how to live a life that pushes you outside of

trust it completely, but I think that the dialogue is growing stronger and that is great.

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MC: So unexpected, but so cool. It was a slight dream

your comfort zones; and, you learn how to make that work.

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We forget sometimes that we are always communicating. Our layers of communication run the gamut from the seemingly superficial (how we dress) to the profound (what we do, say, or buy). Whether or not it’s through what we wear or what we build—the idea is to live with intention, to communicate effectively. In the community of Narrowsburg, NY, it seems that everyone is expressing themselves through their work in one way or another: There are so many artists building businesses that operate as extensions of their creative visions.

THE INTUITIVE ECONOMY OF NARROWSBURG Words and Photography S A N DY S OOH OO

MAIN STREET IS FILLED with shops, restaurants, and gallery spaces that each contribute to the overwhelming sense that collaborative, intentional living is the best way to be. A substantial population of makers has been thriving in this tiny hamlet on the Delaware for decades. They were drawn to the affordable spaces and the excellent location, and they stayed for the community that’s bloomed around them.

Master jeweler Pedro Boregaard has had his shop near the end of Main Street since 2011. If anyone knows anything about how our possessions can protect us and give us power, it is Boregaard. A lifelong jeweler who apprenticed with the finest jewelers in Germany, where he was born, and worked for Tiffany’s before branching out on his own with his award-winning designs, Boregaard understands that each of his pieces holds meaning and a kind of enchantment for its owners. When I enter the shop, two women are marveling at his creations while a sleepy German Shepherd mix raises her head from the floor to sniff my legs. Boregaard tells me about his whirlwind of a life (bopping around the London and New York City scenes during the ’70s and ’80s) and lets me hold some precious objects in my hands: The weight 64

OPPOSITE: Juliette Hermant stands in front of Maison Bergogne; One Grand Books; home goods at The Velvet Maple; Narrowsburg Farmers Market; brunch overlooking the Delaware at the Heron

of them is not like other jewelry; the rings are heavy and delicate at the same time. “None of this was made by machines,” he says, pulling from a case the most elegant necklace: a modern, minimalist zig-zag of diamonds that could easily drape across any starlet’s neck at a premiere or a pool party. He’d sold this necklace decades ago and is making them again today. Successful art is an achievement of a kind of timelessness, and if you are lucky, you can wear Mr. Boregaard’s.

All up and down Main Street, I find myself dipping in and out of whole worlds. There is the fantastic bookstore One Grand Books, run by Aaron Hicklin, the former editor-in-chief of Out magazine and onetime editor of BlackBook.

Not only can you peruse an excellent selection of literature selected by notable minds (including Greta Gerwig, Tilda Swinton, and Questlove), but you feel like you’re conversing with celebrities and writers at a dinner party. Next door is MayerWasner, designer Pamela Mayer’s fashionable boutique offering pieces made with excellent textiles in distinctive cuts. Up the street is another stylish shop, Sunny’s Pop, a collection of curated housewares selected by Sunny Ruffalo. The shop is bright and full of people ogling the loveliest pillows, throws, and ceramics

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arranged on wooden shelves and elegant ladders.

Juliette Hermant, of the antiques emporium Maison Bergogne, sees her storefront as a constant conversation with the outside world. It’s an enormous space, a former bus garage filled with vintage wares and antiques. There are artfully arranged deerhead busts, a vintage chaise longue in a crushed red velvet, mirrors in gilded frames, and antique paintings beneath some impressive chandeliers. “All the objects in my shop come in here with a story,” Ms. Hermant tells me. “Part of what I do is arrange all their voices.” Like so many of the other artists here, Hermant first came in search of space—and soon fell in love with the natural beauty of the area.

Artists are always looking for space in which to make their creations, to breathe and collaborate. To that end, the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance has helped fuel the region’s creative minds through grants and gallery space. It’s a resource that has proved indispensable for the community, and it has been encouraging growth and artistic endeavors for decades. In addition to supporting the various galleries and studios on Main Street, the DVAA helps back events like the Big Eddy Film Festival, Riverfest, and the Deep Water Literary Festival (staged every year by One Grand Books). The artists of Narrowsburg understand that no one really exists in a vacuum: Collaboration is required for survival; communication is required for collaboration.

Back at Maison Bergogne, Ms. Hermant takes a fresh honeycomb from her fridge, scrapes up a pool of it with a ceramic spoon, wax and all, and offers it to me. As it turns out, she keeps the beehives on her roof. The honey tastes like actual flowers trapped in amber. She is explaining the intuitive economy of bees. “Bees are incredibly complex, social creatures,” she tells me, describing their resilience and 66

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their intricate hierarchy, designed to preserve the well-being of the hive: They are never not working in concert with one another, with intention.

Next door is the Moon River Inn, a laid-back, lovely four-room hotel run by Celeste Evans, complete with a patio view of the river and two fire pits to hang by at night. The rooms are spacious and bright, decorated with art and furnishings from local shops, with a bed like a cloud. Though it’s only been open for a year, it books up quickly on weekends in the summer, as it’s an ideal getaway for city folk and locals alike.

For sustenance, locals have many options, but none more notable than The Heron. More than a local watering hole, The Heron is a place for everyone in town to meet for excellent drinks and sustainable fare created by chef and co-owner Paul Nanni, who is supporting the community at large through relationships with local providers. The menu is regularly changing, but I ate the fried chicken, a salmon belly tartare, and a baby greens salad. Since I have a separate stomach for dessert, I also ate the pot de crème with black Hawaiian sea salt and slept soundly afterward.

For lunch or a more casual dinner option, Laundrette, a spacious restaurant on the water over on 5th Street, has delicious brick-oven pizzas and salads. For lunch we tried the special with broccoli rabe and sausage, as well as the pepperoni with black olives, both on crispy crusts with satisfying ratios of toppings and sauce. Inside the restaurant was warm, but a breeze came in off the water offering relief, and the bubbly house lemonade worked well to wash everything down.

The mood in town is organic: everything seems guided in some way by the natural world. There is River Gallery, which was at the forefront of the Narrowsburg

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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Mayer Wasner boutique; Celeste Evans of Moonriver Inn; pizza at The Laundrette; the River Gallery storefront; the DVAA Museum OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Vintage finds at Madame Fortuna; Mildred’s Complexity art gallery; Narrowsburg Union; B-Line Ice Cream; jewelry designer Pedro Boregaard; Sunny’s Pop by Sunrise Ruffalo

revival, having been opened in 2005. Run by two fashion-world veterans, it offers both antiques and original wares made by local artists. Next door is Velvet Maple, named after the first wallpaper that owner and head designer Alessandra Maria ever installed in a client’s home. Her shop consists of vintage midcentury modern goods, as well as solid reproductions and clothing from eco-friendly brands and from friends of the owner herself. A stuffed fox, mid-trot, perches regally on a front shelf, ever the conversation starter for Alessandra, whose favorite thing is to meet and engage with new people.

It seems odd, but somehow not unexpected, that I find another fox at Madame Fortuna across the street. Owner Allison Ward’s goal at the boutique—another Main Street staple filled with excellent vintage clothing, like an impeccable Hermès scarf or a proper Levi’s denim jacket—has been to give new life to old things. “These pieces that should not be hidden in closets or destined for landfills—they get a whole new story,” she says as I eye the rings at her counter. Her fox guards the jewelry and sits curled up in a corner, at rest. “I wanted him to be comfortable,” she says, having found him perfectly preserved on the side of the road in the dead of winter. She gave him a new life, too.

When Narrowsburg Central Rural High School was shut down in 2001, much of the community grieved, as though the heartbeat of the town had stopped. It lost a hub where many of its residents developed their relationships day to day—dropping their kids off at school, communing over the experience of public education. Everyone was left to figure out how to build their local connections in a different way.

Nearly 20 years later, the school has become the Narrowsburg Union and is a

new kind of foundation in the community. Thanks to Brendan and Cathy Weiden, the centrally located building has become a hub of makers, artists, artisans, and craftsmen who all need space to make their work. Brendan’s family has roots in the area going back a century or so, and both he and Cathy have extensive experience in the logistics of running properties—he is an engineer, and Cathy has worked in real estate taxes for decades—so together they were able to put all their knowledge into developing a space for people to work and connect. In addition to studio and office space, the Union also has a certified commercial kitchen that chefs from all over the region are able to use to create goods to sell. The Narrowsburg Farmer’s Market conveniently happens next door every Saturday in the summertime.

Thanks to the Weidens, the collective dream of Narrowsburg is coming to life in the shell of a building that had been shuttered for many years. It should be noted that I found all this out by wandering inside and stopping at a window surrounded by peace flags, where a man, Mark Randall, was selling the most delicious ice cream, B Line, made with local milk from Creamworks Dairy and sweetened with honey produced by his own hives down the road.

B Line Ice Cream embodies the kind of utopian ambition I felt all throughout Narrowsburg: inspired by the natural world and transformed into a thing you can hold in your hands—in this case, some sweet honey ice cream sandwiched between two homemade dark chocolate cookies, which I ate as I drove out of town. I felt humbled by one small town’s capacity for resilience and growth—by its intention to be a place where the arts thrive. According to Cathy Weiden, Narrowsburg is a town where the arts won.

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1 SHOW: CLY TIE ALEX ANDER AND R AOUL HAGUE A new show bridges two generations with the work of two abstract artists in dialogue about space and spatial intensity: painter Clytie Alexander and late sculptor Raoul Hague. Hague grew up in Constantinople and Egypt, studied at the Arts Students League in New York in the late 1920s, and then moved to Woodstock where he lived for 60 years, carving abstract sculptures from stone and wood.

Between Santa Fe, Los Angeles and New York, Alexander pushes “permeable boundaries” with paintings that refuse to stay in their frame. On view August 18 to Oct 27th at T Space, 137 Round Lake Road, Rhinebeck 2 ATOMIC FREEDOM LEATHER CAGE TOTE Hailing from Wurtsboro, designer Mo DiPalma was forced to relocate to Brooklyn to see her utilitarian-chic bag line Atomic Freedom through to success. The coveted Leather Cage Tote — cross-hatched leather straps with antique brass rivets — changes its look but keeps its shape, with or without snap-in duck canvas liners in colors like burgundy, juniper and harvest gold.

Available at atomicfreedom.myshopify.com for $201

Welcome to the September Issue, in honor of a month that brilliantly blends summer flare and sweater weather.

Our resident style maven MANDY COON picks 8 things aesthetic.

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3 M ALU BYRNE RING IN L APIS Now based in Catskill, Malu Byrne makes stunning, sculptural rings, earrings and other accessories out of stone, crystal and gold.

The Byrne family is generally known for music, but our big Byrne crush this September is this hand candy of half Lapis Lazuli and half 22k yellow gold.

Available at enstudionyc.com for $2,800 4 MICAEL A GREG, ALPACA / WOOL OMBRE SWEATER This dream sweater by Micaela Greg is part of the new fall collection at fresh, new At Land in Dobbs Ferry, along with September Issue-worthy treasures by Rachel Comey, NO. 6, and Ilana Kohn, Hawkins NY and Louise Roe. Available at At Land in Dobbs Ferry and at at.land for $418

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5 MEL ANIE LEONARD MULTI TONE PANA M A HAT At designer and milliner Melanie Leonard’s shop in Cold Spring, find her made-in-New-York hats. Each is steamed, hand-crafted and roped with traditional millinery processes on antique hat blocks, of locally and personally sourced materials like entirely guilt-free fur felt, suede, wool and luxury straw.

Available at wynono.com/shop for $275 6 FAR M ACY ANTI-AGING DUO Headquartered in Port Jervis, Mark Veeder and Cooper Boone blend ingredients from local farms into Farmacy’s line of potions and tinctures. Our pick? This brilliant anti-aging duo: HONEYMOON GLOW 3-in-1 night resurfacing serum and SLEEP TIGHT lightweight night balm, with hibiscus flower extract, natural salicylic acid from willow bark, and plant-based retinoid alternatives that help us wake up younger.

Available at farmacybeauty.com for $90

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7 BACK BAR Style is also a place. From the creators of Fish & Game, Back Bar is Warren Street’s darling for noodles, rice bowls, dim sum brunch and bright, bold colors from the flatware to the backsplash to the cerulean tiki tumblers. An impeccable aesthetic pairs with great food to demonstrate amazing taste in two ways.

347 Warren Street, Hudson

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8 BILL CUNNINGHA M, ON THE STREET: FIVE DECADES OF ICONIC PHOTOGR APHY Celebrate September with the Sept. release of On The Street. Our love for Bill Cunningham, the “anthropologist and fashion genius” who photographed street style for New York Times from the late 1970s until his death in 2015 is now represented this beautiful, “oversized” book, spanning five decades of his most iconic and beloved images and writing, fit to dress up your coffee table.

Available at The Golden Notebook, 29 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY, for $65 Market Editor MANDY COON Copy Editor ALE XANDRA MARVAR

THE GOLDEN DIAMOND “PEBBLE” NECKLACE PHOTOGRAPHED BY RALF GRAEBNER

PEDRO BOREGAARD ARTISAN JEWELER AND SCULPTER 101 MAIN STREET, NARROWSBURG, NY (845) 252-3833 | BOREGAARD.COM

MOUNTAINDALE.COM | @VISITMOUNTAINDALE