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    The Dinner Guru

    Hosting the perfect dinner party: These expert, insider tips will make you a most envied host

    Barbara Kuntz
    Barbara Kuntz
    Oct 28, 2013 | 10:32 am

    A heaping tablespoonful of passion and a whole lot of fun are all the ingredients you need to host the perfect holiday dinner party at home. And take that advice from an expert.

    “I do plan for some of the basics,” says Michael Aram, home decor and gift designer extraordinaire, who was on hand recently at Neiman Marcus to personally introduce his fall/winter collection, “but you also need a certain spontaneity to it all. After all, it feels wonderful to be inspired.”

    Aram shared his little secrets with CultureMap during his visit here to The Galleria store while personalizing gifts with his signature using a dentist’s drill for engraving. “I laugh that dentistry is my second calling,” he says.

    Dress Rehearsal
    Aram scrutinizes his serving platters and dinnerware the night before the big event. “I actually take Post-its and place them on the plates so I remember what food to place there . . . and not forget about any dishes in the fridge,” he says. “I truly believe in oven-to-table serving.”

    You can peruse Aram’s exquisite casserole holders in-store or on his website, particularly the new Sleepy Hollow collection with porcelain dishes that fit snuggly into elegant footed nickelplate holders for a beautiful presentation, for inspiration. His full lines of dinnerware are meant to mix and match with interchangeable organic patterns such as Black Orchid, Botanical Leaf, Olive Branch, Cast Iron and Silversmith.

    Mix and Match
    Speaking of mix and match, one of Aram’s signature approaches in his designs is the combination of different metals in a single piece. “It adds so much richness and makes items look and feel so jewelry-like,” he says. An excellent example is Aram’s partridge in a pear tree ornament, in which he integrates the beauty of silverplate and goldplate into one object.

    Once the serving pieces and plate selection are in place, Aram determines the foundation for the table layout, whether it be a cloth covering or runner to set the stage. “I really don’t want a lot of color on the table,” he says. “Rather, the food should stand out.”

    Old and New
    “I like combining things from different eras,” Aram says. “My grandmother’s plates are really too small for dining, so I use them in different ways. Or I’ll take an old champagne flute and use it for a flower vase. I love to bring memories of different family members to the table.”

    "I always serve my guests first, and then introduce them to the bar. I want my guests to feel at home.”

    Alongside meaningful family heirlooms, Aram pairs contemporary pieces, such as his new grape leaf snack plates in bright enamel finishes inspired by his days as a youth helping roll dolmas for special occasions.

    “As you can see, my drive comes from nature in all its forms,” Aram notes. “I’ll use dried leaves and vines with fresh flowers. I believe all stages of nature, living and not, just amplify the beauty.”

    He often goes out to his garden the morning of the dinner party, collecting seasonal treasures such as twigs and small branches, which he spray paints gold or silver and then arranges on the table. A quick trip to the nearest grocery store brings white roses to the setting, easily cut into delicate accents when placed in votive candleholders.

    “The table should shimmer,” Aram says. “I don’t like a lot of lighting.”

    The Bar
    Aram always sets up a self-serve bar in advance, using large-scale ice buckets to chill water, wine and champagne. A popular item in his bar ensemble is the cool and stylish Bark ice bucket in polished aluminum with stainless steel insert. The Forest Leaf Collection piece is highly textured and topped with a branch-handle lid.

    He slices lemons and limes and readies other cocktail condiments so everything is available when guests arrive. Drinkware is in clear view and easily accessible, as are napkins, ice scoops, tongs, swizzle sticks, etc. “I always serve my guests first, and then introduce them to the bar,” Aram says. “I want my guests to feel at home.”

    The Host or Hostess with the Mostest
    Aram says that graciousness should be extended to even those unexpected guests. “I don’t fret if someone brings a friend,” Aram says. “My policy is ‘open door, open heart.’"

    And he keeps a few extra gifts on hand for just those circumstances. He'll use his Christmas ornaments as napkin rings for everyone to take home. Think golden acorns, forged snowflakes, leafy crosses and whimsical, "jazz hands" snowmen, all in magical metals. He's also known to set out his charming mini-frames as place card holders as another gift option.

    “Once that first guest arrives, you are that gracious host or hostess,” Aram says. “The party has started, and there’s no turning back. If you’re at ease, then your guests will be at ease, too.”

    Make an elegant statement with stunning serving pieces, like this shimmering creation by home decor and tabletop designer Michael Aram.

    Michael Aram at Neiman Marcus October 2013
      
    Photo by Barbara Kuntz
    Make an elegant statement with stunning serving pieces, like this shimmering creation by home decor and tabletop designer Michael Aram.
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    frankly speaking

    Houston custom home builder opens state-of-the-art new showroom

    Emily Cotton
    May 23, 2025 | 1:00 pm
    Frankel Design Build
    Photo by Kerry Kirk
    Welcome to Frankel Design Build.

    Imagine a custom home builder capable of radiating such cool confidence in the execution of their finished product that they’re happy to maintain the property long after the completion of the project—impossible? Enter Frankel Design Build. The Frankel experience begins in their exceptional new client-only design showroom, where the firm’s signature scent (none other than luxury brand Loewe’s Tomato Leaves candle) permeates the air and “ends,” so to speak, with enrollment in their home maintenance and management program.

    The innovative, multi-award-winning, Houston-based firm recently debuted a swanky new design showroom in the Houston Design District showcasing product vignettes and technologies far exceeding what is available to preview with other custom builders. The showroom brings truly custom features to life, including a full-sized vault door; a custom quartz hydraulics-lift meeting table that doubles as a standing workspace; a 14-foot, sliding glass door system by Mirror Gallery, Inc.; along with herringbone hardwood floors, a full bar with custom metal fabricated details, and Venetian plastered walls.

    Clients will find a curated range of selections — from tile, hardware, and plumbing fixtures to lighting, custom cabinetry, and millwork — sourced from trusted industry partners such as Visual Comfort and Ann Sacks, among others. This unique blend of offerings empowers clients to personalize every detail with intention.

    For nearly four decades, the Frankel family’s luxury residential home business has maintained a reputation for a client-forward culture. Founded in 1988 by Jim Frankel, sons and current co-presidents Scott and Kevin Frankel are continuing this legacy through their new showroom.

    “We are trying to create the best environment for people who design and the best customers to get together and come up with great ideas,” Scott tells CultureMap. “I think it’s a little different for a home builder, particularly a custom home builder, to open up a space that is just for their clients to enhance that experience.”

    Each area of the showroom has been outfitted with high-tech A/V equipment that will allow clients to engage with the Frankel team remotely, if need be. “What we’re trying to do, as our clients are busy — they’re active, they’ve got stuff going on in their personal lives, kids, work — we’ve tried to put together a facility that puts together interior design and architecture, and put our clients in a position where they’re able to do this, and they’re not having to run all over town,” says Scott. “It’s a pretty big investment for a home builder to make on the custom side.”

    With thousands of tangible samples on-hand, including full-sized door and glass options, the Frankels recognize that keeping up with a showroom of this magnitude will require a lot of management, but it’s not a challenge they’re prepared to shy away from.

    “Our interior design team isn’t just helping clients make their selections. They are looking at everything that’s out there and then making sure that this place is curated to building and designing a home right now,” says Kevin. “It has to be a lot of showrooms in one.”

    Potential custom home buyers sometimes find themselves apprehensive when exploring the possibility of building homes, mostly due to some illusive bad experience a “friend of a friend” had when working with a builder. Frankel Design Build puts clients at ease through their active flexibility. “This for me is just so different from what custom builders try to do. Typically, what they are doing is going ‘you are limited to this,’” says Scott, noting that anything their team has chosen is already in the budget — there are no surprises.

    Ever the realist, Kevin understands that social media can play a large part in determining whether clients stick to their original selections.

    “It’s such a long process, and we want people to feel good about it. It just takes more management from us, which we’ve always been willing to do,” he says. “The day after your plan is done, do we expect for you to stop looking at Instagram? We don’t. We have to be flexible. We know you’re looking at Instagram.”

    Through their family of companies, which also includes AVEA Pools & Outdoor Living and Frankel Home Care, Frankel Design Build far exceeds what any reasonable person would consider “turn key service.” Once a Frankel home is complete, a user-friendly customer portal through Frankel Home Care allows for home care services to be scheduled at the click of a button.

    “Every home that we build, our goal is to help the customer understand that there are certain things that they might need to maintain forever. We don’t just build houses now, we build pools — we have to — and we clean those pools every week. We service generators, we clean gutters, we wash down driveways,” says Scott. “The problem is, you move in, I give you this house, and now what? To live in a house you need a list of people. I don’t want my customer to have to do that. We are in the custom design and service business — we are in the long term care business.”

    Frankel Design Build
      

    Photo by Kerry Kirk

    Welcome to Frankel Design Build.

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