Color of the Year Party Turns The Halles Into Designer Heaven — a New Round Top Signature Event Takes Shape
Keeping It Colorful in the Texas Countryside
BY Catherine D. Anspon // 11.08.21Veronica Olofsson, Tina Zulu, Chelsea Williams (Photo by Chris Pierre Bachman)
Among Round Top’s signature bashes are PaperCity‘s biannual fêtes that mark the finales for each fall and spring’s Antiques Show. This year, with the addition of Round Top Publishers under the magazine’s wings and the signature event space The Halles on Texas Highway 237, the soirée took on fresh spin.
A renewed festive fall gathering was in order, taking place at The Halles’ VIP Pavilion, a handsome barn-like structure featuring historic, reclaimed beams. It is a building inspired by the legendary dance halls of Texas.
To top off the party palette, Benjamin Moore stepped up as one of The Halles’ premier sponsors. A signature event was born, one that celebrated the launch of the heritage American paint brand’s 2022 Color of the Year. The special event also inaugurated a Texas collection — The Colors of Round Top, selected by Houston designer Mary Lambrakos of Lambrakos Studio. (Read more about how The Colors of Round Top came to be here.)
Nature-inspired Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495, and a phalanx of colors curated from the environs of Round Top were toasted, while a socially distanced crowd of 300 something Round Top regulars, show shoppers, designers and first-time visitors melded in the Halles’ VIP Pavilion, which looks out upon a bucolic meadow complete with pond. The cows had gone to bed for the night, but the stars shone overhead.
Also among The Halles sponsors were Circa Lighting, Perennials and Sutherland and Moderno Porcelain Works. Coming forward to create the unique vignettes for the VIP Pavilion were Cisco Home furnishings. The placement was choreographed by designer Lauren Wills Grover of Wills Design Associates.
One big hit of the show and this evening were the public art displays. A live plant-and-sustainable furniture installation, Nature, by CAMH-exhibited Preston Gaines. And the Chromatic Distraction I light work by Patricio Marin and Greg Goodman. Both artworks made for some captivating Instagram moments.
Other memorable party touches: bites from the Blind Fox food truck cooked up by chefs Krysten Hanger and Keith Abate; Lalo Tequila-crafted Ranch Water cocktails; quaffs of Richard’s Rainwater; and the rockin’ sounds of the Black Cat Choir, a Round Top band favorite.
On the scene: PaperCity‘s and Round Top Publishers’ Jim Kastleman and Holly Moore; Annie Miranda-Sommer of Benjamin Moore; Linda Plant with Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty, and colleague Tim Grimes; Cisco Home’s Cisco Pinedo and Maurishka Pinedo; Marita Fairbanks; Denise Jacobs of Round Top Real Estate; Greg Fourticq and John Cone of Red Antler Bungalows; Red & White Gallery and Grand Fayette’s Jerry and Joan Herring; Libby Cagle and Lauren Taft; artist McKay Otto in from Wimberley; Chairish trio Camilla Norman, Caroline Cole, and Rose Hollinshead; Dawn and Richard Gervais; Michele Verma; Diane and Ray Krueger; Clemencia and Jordan Larimore with daughter Bella Larimore; and Marta Chacon.
Also sighted: Fayette County’s Craig Moreau; a clutch of designers including Kips Bay-featured Courtnay Tartt Elias and Darla Bankston May; Blue Hills’ Stephanie Layne Disney and Corey Layne; Kathy and Dale Young; Compound dealers Mel King and Faye Asano of Big Blue Treasures; The Halles’ Ben Kastleman; Piper Faust of Piper Faust Public Art; Norman and Sally Reynolds; House of Nomad’s quartet, in from North Carolina, Tina Segal, Berkeley Minkhorst, Kelley Lentini, and Rachel Frye; Shea Drury; Neon Moon Coffee’s Rose and Carl Luning; Kimono Zulu’s Tina Zulu and crew, Chelsea Williams and Veronica Olofsson; Peter Glynn; Valerie Celestino; Noelle Woods; and Madison Marchbanks.