Boatyard Bash

By Robert Haywood  |  Photography by Lee Kriel

With a flare for the uncommon, Creative Tide hosted an outdoor party at the boatyard Port Annapolis that was no ordinary dinner party.

Consisting of talented design professionals who are also small business owners from the Annapolis area, Creative Tide meets regularly to discuss the design field, their businesses, and everyday concerns like schools and motherhood. It’s much better than your typical networking group because the members share a common purpose: they possess “a passion to grow their businesses in creative ways” and value “a powerful meeting of minds” which “allows continual education, growth, and energy.” Furthermore, they “embrace the Annapolis lifestyle and all that our community has to offer, and hope to cultivate the growing design/arts/fashion movement.”

On the afternoon of the event, members showed up at Port Annapolis with wares from their homes and individual shops. Most of the furniture and accessories for the party came from Dreamhouse Studios, owned by Kim Mohr and Erin Olexia. Ellen Allen of Ellen Allen Annapolis provided items such as the Sadler Ice Bucket and Sadler Glass Ware. Designer Victoria Larson of Victoria Larson Textiles supplied the St. Barth’s Gate fabric in navy on X benches and pillows.

Jenny Davids of Hen House Linens provided the gorgeous linens, including the Greek Key Agua tablecloth. Wendy Rabin, owner of WRABYN, styled the members’ clothing, including the jewelry. Architect Angela Healy provided styling for the dinner and food table.

The evening started out with cocktails, with Jenny Davids’ bourbon sour, the recipe of which we share with readers of Annapolis Home. Amanda Volkoff catered the food, which included a shrimp salad, watermelon, tomato caprese salad, and orange and dill cucumber salad.

Creative Tide member Lee Kriel of Lee Kriel Photography photographed the entire event, from the stringing of lights in the tree above the dinner table, to the hanging of the “chandelier”—a worn grey and yellow buoy—to the evening dinner as the sun set and guests enjoyed fine food and conversation.

To personalize the event, they each brought a setting of their own china, sharing with each other the personal character of china, most often selected and gifted as a ritual of marriage.

What can we take from this event? You don’t have to have a glittering chandelier. You can use other people’s china. And you don’t even need a home for a fine party. You can host your party at a nearby boatyard or other unlikely venue.

The Creative Tide
(from left to right)

Kim Mohr, Dreamhouse Studios
www.dreamhousestudios.net

Angela Healy, Healy Studio Architecture and Design
www.healystudio.com

Wendy Rabin, WRABYN
www.wrabyn.com

Victoria Larson, Victoria Larson Textiles
www.victoria-larson.com

Jenny Davids, Hen House Linens
www.henhouselinens.com

Erin Olexia, Dreamhouse Studios
www.dreamhousestudios.net

Ellen Allen, Ellen Allen Annapolis
www.ellenallen.com

Lee Kriel, Lee Kriel Photography (not pictured)
www.lkphotography.com

From Vol. 5, No. 5 2014
Annapolis Home Magazine