The Table
Sabine Camerin, Sylvaine Guyot, Clotilde Thouret, Sara Lubtchansky, Gilles Rof, Lio Rs, , Thierry Thieû Niang
Photos by Simon Courchel
Lucien Chef Ambition at La Maison Paisible in Avignon. Episode 2: The Table and the China
Mohamed El Khatib and the Collection Lambert in Avignon launched the third art center in nursing and invited me to prepare a banquet for 200 on the opening day.
If the challenge was to trigger the childhood memories of the residents with a traditional meal from Provence, another very important aspect appeared during my interview with them (see previous post): the visual.
In fact, what they see has an impact on their desire to eat. I cannot created so many color effects with the food itself, but I could with the table. I spent two full days browsing second hand stores - mostly Emmaüs du Vaucluse, an place full of treasure and kindness - and collected 400+ plates, bowls, serving plates, objects, each one different, colorful and flowery, including a silver and gold dog salt and pepper shakers by … Jeff Koons!
Early morning of the big day, the beautiful team of volunteers (I won’t say it enough)- Sara, Sabine, Lio, Gil, and Thierry started to set the table for the banquet, covering the tables with butcher brown paper, mixing the sundry flatware with motley group of objects and colorful vases by artist Clémence Hoffmann filled with branches and flowers coming straight from the surrounding nature and Elizabeth, Constance and Valerie's gardens. Tell me why this table reminds you a familiar one in Brooklyn…
At 11.30am, Sylvaine and Clotilde joined the team of volunteers, the guests were arriving, residents, partners press … we were ready to start the service.
Look at the whole series here
