Project Description
Entertaining With:
A Flower-Filled Party on a Farm in New Jersey
To celebrate a milestone anniversary, the beauty brand founder Yael Alkalay invited friends for floral distillation, scent-making and tea.
by Kari Molvar
photos by Ivana Cajina
On a rainy Thursday in May, a small group gathered in a New Jersey barn around a two-foot-tall glass steam distiller filled with freshly picked rose geranium stems and leaves. The demonstration — on how to extract aromatic compounds to create essential oil and hydrosol, or floral water — was being led by Yael Alkalay, the founder of Red Flower, and was part of a celebration marking the beauty brand’s 25th anniversary. It was also one of several moments over the course of the afternoon during which Alkalay’s guests interacted with plants.
While at Pendry Natirar, a resort with a farm that sits on 500 acres of parkland in Somerset County, they put up their hoods to wander among rows of organic squash, garlic and radish. They stopped in the greenhouse to clip herbs and flowers, including Thai basil, chamomile and dahlias. And they blended their own fragrances, adding drops of Red Flower aromatherapeutic oils in scents like palo santo, jasmine, amber and lavender to oil bases. Alkalay, 57, who consults on the products and treatments used in Pendry Natirar’s spa, chose this style of event, rather than simply putting on a meal, to give her friends a taste of the hands-on, time-honored rituals for making botanical products that inspired her to start the brand in the first place, and long before natural beauty was so mainstream.
But Alkalay put on a meal, too. After changing out of their gardening attire, the guests took their places at a table in the property’s wood- accented tavern and filled loose-leaf tea strainers with an assortment of herbs (such as spearmint and anise) to create their own blends. Those were paired with finger sandwiches and sweets, and accessorizing the spread were Red Flower candles and scent diffusers. Alkalay toasted with her teacup to friends who had come from near and far. “Being present and together is the best gift,” she said.
The attendees: Many of the guests had traveled from New York City; among them were the fashion designer Maria Cornejo, 63, who first met Alkalay in 1998, and Johnny Valentine, 40, the jewelry designer and former hairstylist who regularly cut Alkalay’s hair, along with her husband’s and daughter’s, for almost a decade. Also in attendance were the writer and photographer Brooke Williams, 60; the former fashion publicist Marysia Woroniecka, 69, a co-owner, with Cornejo, of Zero + Maria Cornejo; and the author and energy healer Millana Snow, 38. The artist and ceramist Janie Korn, 38 — who worked in the erstwhile Red Flower boutique on Prince Street for five years starting in 2014 — flew in from London for the event.
The table: Alkalay filled empty Red Flower bottles with blooms and herbs from Pendry Natirar’s garden, including straw flowers, chamomile, eucalyptus, pansies and viola, while subtle orange blossom and moonflower scent diffusers were placed in the center of the 20-foot-long table. Lavender and jasmine candles represented Red Flower’s beginnings: The brand first launched at Barneys New York with these and four other petal-topped options, in addition to three floral teas. Korn brought some of her hand-sculpted bowls and vases, and the place cards were designed by the calligrapher Katie Wheeler, who’s based on Cape Cod, Mass., in a region where Alkalay keeps a studio and lives for part of the year.
The food: Like Alkalay, the Pendry Natirar chefs Christopher Poix and Brittany Lichtenberg relied on what was growing on the property. Tiered trays featured four varieties of tea sandwiches — honey lavender duck breast, basil pesto caprese, quail egg salad and cucumber dill tzatziki — as well as orange blossom scones and rosemary Parmesan biscuits served with Devonshire cream and garlic herb butter. For dessert, there were pistachio rose water madeleines, elderflower lemon tarts, bite-size hibiscus cheesecakes and honey lavender macarons. For an additional treat, Pendry’s farm manager, Melinda Paige Hopkins, provided slabs of honeycomb that had been taken earlier that month from the apiary, and that were served with ciabatta bread.
The drinks: When guests arrived at the barn, they were offered mocktails made with nonalcoholic sparkling rosé, lime juice, blackberry lavender honey syrup and a splash of elderflower tonic. Each drink was garnished with fresh nasturtium petals. At the meal, in addition to tea, some sipped blood orange and passion fruit mezcal cocktails.
The conversation: In the greenhouse, guests mingled with garden clippers in hand, comparing their arrangements. While picking arugula, Cornejo shared memories of her grandfather’s fruit trees in Chile. During the tea, conversation revolved around the creative process, and Alkalay talked about how each guest had shaped and inspired her.
An entertaining tip: Alkalay recommends incorporating scents into a meal. Before the tea, she misted the table linens with her brand’s rose and camellia plum water. To not overdo it, she usually layers scents from plants that “naturally grow together” in certain regions and seasons. Or she’ll let the food be her guide, pairing, say, Mediterranean dishes with zesty citrus notes. And in addition to flowers, she says, you might consider laying out “bowls of aromatics like lemons and oranges for guests to rub their fingers against, creating a feeling of abundance and connection to nature.”