Craft and Entertaining Intersect in a Must-Have New Book

Loretta Pettway Bennett belongs to a legendary group of makers in Boykin (a.k.a. Gee’s Bend), Alabama, where locals have assembled fabric scraps into improvisational quilts for generations. But on a not too distant evening, her work laid the foundation for community some 800 miles north. At Detroit’s Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum, a space dedicated to African culture, seven of her quilts were draped across outdoor tables, their geometric patterns perfect complements to the mosaic façades of the campus’s N’kisi House. Cinder blocks hand-painted by museum founder Olayami Dabls doubled as vases, mixing with 18th-century silver platters from Bolivia and Peru as well as everyday lawn chairs and drinks coolers. That banquet is one of 18 superlative scenes created for At the Artisan’s Table (Vendome Press), a visually transporting forthcoming tome by Jane Schulak, the founder of Culture Lab Detroit, and party maestro David Stark that explores the intersection of art, craft, and entertaining. Featured artisans range from Roberto Lugo—he made plate portraits specifically for the book—to Max Lamb, whose basalt crockery can also be found at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. “What we make defines who we are,” says Schulak. “Material culture is a celebration of civilization at that time. Each chapter tells those stories.”