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Head to fashion designer Laura Kim’s Instagram page, and you’ll find two of her three “pinned” posts are actually food-related. Sandwiching a photo of an extraordinarily sculpted Oscar de la Renta white floral gown is a photo of a purple cauliflower baked right into a bread loaf and an apple tarte featuring slices arranged into an ombré rose that fan out and shift in color. The message? The way to Kim’s heart is through a very pretty plate.
“It s equally important to me that food looks as good as it tastes,” explains Kim of her culinary philosophy, weeks ahead of the launch of her first-ever home collection with Crate Barrel—110 pieces to help cook, present, and table the perfect al fresco meal.
Launching tomorrow, the collection is a reflection of Kim’s world—as co-creative director of Oscar de la Renta and Monse, but also of the keeper of a small but bountiful rooftop garden in SoHo that’s bustling with strawberries, tomatoes, Asian herbs—and no bugs.“I think the bugs are not moving to SoHo for one little garden, so I rarely have to spray anything!”
It was as though she bottled up her photogenic life and presented it to Crate Barrel; and in a way, she did. The scented candles in smooth marble vessels (Earl Grey, Garden Dill, Garden Carrot) mimic the scents found in Kim’s garden. (“The smell of the candles don’t fight with the food—it can be offsetting to have a candle on when you re cooking, so these scents act as compliments,” she says.) And last spring’s carrots? They got pressed into the milky-colored earthenware pieces to add a bucolic design element. ODLR fans surely recall the label’s season-defining pressed flower dresses of 2021. Meanwhile, fans of Kim’s IG page will clock her golden doodle, King, make an appearance twice in the collection—his adorable likeness features on a wine stopper and a pie vent.
Lest we forget that Kim is the co-designer for one of New York’s most vaunted labels, Oscar de la Renta, in addition to her own line Monse (both, alongside Fernando Garcia), fashion comes at play here, too. Kim likens a family-style meal, with vibrant platters of food set down the middle of a table like creations walking down a runway. In her Crate Barrel collection, there are ceramic fruit bowls perforated like an eyelet (one of her favorite textiles) and a textured rolling pin, which imprints a lovely floral pattern on your dough, is embossed with a pattern pulled from a favorite antique eyelet fabric of Kim’s.
“Cooking is very similar to my job as a designer—I’m gathering raw materials that are right for the season. I’m writing and sketching what I’m going to create, and then I showcase,” adds Kim.
Though it’s her first foray into homeware design, per Crate and Barrel’s senior vice president of product design, Sebastian Brauer, the design process was seamless: “When you’re working with another creative, it just moves along so beautifully.” Kim committed to designing an expansive range of products, from fluted stemware to water tumblers etched with floral sketches inspired by Kim’s own studies. There are table linens in butter yellows and sage greens, poufs and cushions for outdoor picnics in earthy green velvets and slub linens, and there’s even a farm table and bench set. Once stacked, the wobbly-shaped plates and bowls are meant to evoke a flower in bloom. Details, however subtle, abound.
“The designs were created inside the kitchen, inside my garden,” says Kim. “They’re what felt right to me at the moment.”
Come launch day, Kim will be toasting the collection with a party on her rooftop garden. The guest of honor? Who else but King?
