A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
Town & Country’s April 2024 issue is all about the home, with cover-to-cover coverage dedicated to design and its many faces. Among them is Robin Standefer, the co-founder with Stephen Alesch of Roman and Williams, the architectural and interiors firm best known for London’s NoMad hotel, New York’s famous Boom Boom Room, and the renovation of the British Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oh, and Gwyneth Paltrow is also a fan.
T&C invited Standefer to creative-direct, exclusively for the issue, a feast for the senses bringing to life jewelry, design, and craft. The result is a garden party where mauve and pink sapphires drip like vines, tourmalines look good enough to eat, and haute design channels the high drama of nature.
Entertaining, as it happens, is embedded in the visual language of both the magazine and Roman and Williams’s practice. In 2017, Standefer and Alesch opened their own restaurant, La Mercerie, at their Soho emporium Roman and Williams Guild. And, in its 22 years, the firm has also designed a number of restaurants with such dramatic interiors they’ve become Instagram sensations, including Le Coucou, Veronika, and, most recently, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Tin Building in New York’s historic South Street Seaport.
By now, Roman and Williams has something of a campus in Lower Manhattan that also includes the ceramics-focused Guild Gallery. (One of its artists, Ludmilla Balkis, was included in T&C’s 2023 Creative Aristocracy list.) And in November, Standefer and Alesch added the Guild Bar, where blue sapphires may not be poured on the rocks, but cocktails are served in hand-blown glass by Kimiko Yasuda, an artist who specializes in the 17th-century cut glass technique known as kiriko.
High jewelry is also a centuries-old tradition, one meticulously covered by this magazine for well over 178 years, and going strong. After all, only T&C could turn this fantastical story into reality. Call it dinner theater at its finest. Places, everyone!
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Straight Water Glass ($210) and Bean Stainless Steel Flatware Collection (from $120), Ron Boyd Bronze Grapevine Napkin Ring ($975), Ranaki Larsen Pebble Glaze Dinner Plate ($210) and Salad Dish ($195). Chiara Boni La Petite Robe Gown ($995); Gucci High Jewelry Bracelet and Ring; Prada Mules ($1,170); David Yurman High Jewelry Earrings; Tiffany & Co. Brooch (in cup).
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Wineglass ($200), Water Glass ($210), Wine Cooler ($780), Bone Stainless Steel Flatware Collection (from $120), Reed Silver Candlesticks (from $325), Passiflora Embroidered Linen Tablecloth ($500), and Napkin ($32);RW Guild Atsushi Funakushi Ginsai Bowl ($420), Salad Plate ($315), Bread Plate ($235), and Dinner Plate ($465); RW Guild Heami Lee Raised Bowl ($6,900) and Platter ($7,900); Bulgari handbag ($4,650); David Webb Bracelet; Can Cleef & Arpels Brooch; Belperron bracelet.
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Hyunsung Cho Deep Green Cocktail Glass ($560); Sabyasachi Earrings ($22,090); Cartier Bracelet; Piaget High Jewelry Ring; Lydia Courteille Brooch.
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Kimiko Yasuda Crystal Rock Glasses (from $590) and Large Kiriko Bowl ($5,200); Chopard Earrings and Cuff; Chanel Slingbacks ($3,000).
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Bone Stainless Flatware Collection Dinner Fork ($120). Verdura Eings (from $72,500); Ana Khouri Rings; Taffin Ring.
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Footed vase ($1,250) and Bean Stainless Steel Flatware Collection (from $120), Naoya Arakawa Mall Stem Glass ($185), Janaki Larsen Pebble Glaze Dinner Plate ($210) and Salad Dish ($195). RW Guild original designs are by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch. Home products throughout are available at Roman and Williams Guild, rwguild.com. Chiara Boni La Petite Robe Gown ($995); Fendi Clutch ($4,600); Gucci High Jewelry Necklace, Bracelet, and Ring; Tiffany & Co. Necklace and Brooch (far right).
A T&C x Roman and Williams Feast for the Senses
RW Guild Taper Water Glass ($210) and Wineglass ($200), Wine Cooler ($780), Bone Stainless Steel Flatware Collection (from $120), Passiflora Embroidered Linen Tablecloth ($500), Atsuchi Funakushi Ginsai Bowl ($420) and Dinner Plate ($315), Heami Lee Raised Bowl ($6,900) and Platter ($7,900), and Round Bud Vase ($1,900), rwguild.com. Louis Vuitton Handbag, 866-VUITTON. Prabal Gurung Top and Skirt, prabalgurung.com. Sabyasachi Necklace ($123,080), sabyasachi.com. Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, 877-VAN-CLEEF.
Creative Direction and Design by Robin Standefer, Roman and Williams. Photographs by Gentl & Hyers.
Fashion & Accessories Director Dania Lucero Ortiz. Styling by Colin King. Floral styling by Alex Crowder of Field Studies Flora. Hair & makeup by Rosemarie Bernardo. Nails by Lolly Koons at the Wall Group. Model: Kaitlyn Cunningham at Marilyn NYC. Production by Freebird Productions.
This story appears in the April 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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