Slideshow

The Making of a Futurist Banquet

Slide 1/30

The Futurists staged their provocative dinners all over Italy. Here's how to host your own.
Slide 2/30

Dry goods with interesting shapes find their way into edible decor. These were destined for wall panels.
Slide 3/30

The tablecloth is a 25-foot length of black linen embellished with innumerable glued-on felt triangles.
Slide 4/30

Tine triangles peek out from beneath big ones, adding yet another layer of detail and intrigue.
Slide 5/30

Nothing in the room is blue. "Omitting one color in a bright scheme gives it a more specific feeling," Karen explains.
Slide 6/30

Karen made this wire and papier-mache "couch potato" to hold the salt and vinegar chips (part of dessert).
Slide 7/30

Gold paper decoupage extends the triangle theme found on invitations, napkins, and candlesticks.
Slide 8/30

Karen mottled store-bought fabric napkins with bleach before adding linocut prints and fabric paint.
Slide 9/30

The folding pattern for the napkins is from an old book and results in more triangles.
Slide 10/30

Mummified in ribbon, an inexpensive floor lamp becomes an enchanted, illuminated forest.
Slide 11/30

Cardboard wall panels embellished with dry goods create a sense of enclosure and depth.
Slide 12/30

The ingredients: Honeycomb, Corn Pops, star anise, allspice berries, tinsel bursts.
Slide 13/30

Vinyl stickers easily cover big surfaces and provide a metallic contrast to the neutral foodstuffs.
Slide 14/30

Peanuts in a painted maple syrup bottle look organic—but are actually plastic.
Slide 15/30

Purple sashes on each chair serve as seat markers and blindfolds for the "skewers of strange tastes" course.
Slide 16/30

The anti-Caesar salad tower is made of plaster-covered cardboard and plastic wedding cake columns.
Slide 17/30

For her necklace, Karen treated a vintage shirt collar with glues and resins, then gold-leafed it (really).
Slide 18/30

One paper cup, four paper plates, a paper towel roll, and a dollar-store vase become a candy platter.
Slide 19/30

A signature Azoulay: broken plastic spoons as artichoke.
Slide 20/30

To add height, Karen broke apart a parasol, fused it to a base, then encrusted it with glitter and crystals.
Slide 21/30

Mini me: Tiny cocktail umbrellas get the parasol treatment.
Slide 22/30

Karen works intensely on transforming the floor lamp (from Home Depot) frist with paint, and then by wrapping the flexible arms with skeins of silk ribbon in coordinating colors.
Slide 23/30

The entree is a meat loaf wedding cake (recipe, not construction, from Ann Landers).
Slide 24/30

"Icing" the base with mashed potatoes, Parmesan cheese, mascarpone, and food coloring.
Slide 25/30

The centerpieces are filled with random candies, fruits, and veggies so diners can snack between courses.
Slide 26/30

A geodesic dome of ice cream cones nods to retro architectural progress.
Slide 27/30

Vegetables were chosen for their colors and shapes. Here, turnips mingle with eggplants and radishes.
Slide 28/30

Silicone ice-cube trays molded the trio of frozen soups in flavors of miso, coconut, and carrot ginger.
Slide 29/30

The anti-Caesar salad is Karen's interpretation of nature taking over crumbling Roman architecture.
Slide 30/30

Resin clay, spray paint, and nail polish dress up cheap metal skewers.

Food & Entertaining art banquet drink entertain festive food futurist handmade holiday movement party
11 Comments · 0 Saves

The Futurist Movement, which was founded by the Italian poet and impresario F.T. Marinetti in 1909, grew to encompass every mode of creative expression—poetry, sculpture, film, fashion, even typography and ceramics—before vanishing with his death in 1944. For our banquet, Karen created a vaudevillian laboratory theme by drawing on the Futurist fixations she found most inspiring—unexpected elements and bright colors, unusual textures, variations on scale and, of course, gastronomical cunning—all united by her signature touch: an obsessive attention to detail. "Dinner guests have to stay seated for a long time," she explains. "I wanted every single thing their eyes fell on to be a surprise."