On Wednesday evening, Jen Rubio opened up her West Village town house for a group of designers, curators and editors to celebrate “The Cultured Collector,” a new book by Cultured editor Sarah Harrelson.
Inside Rubio’s home, a build-your-own martini station welcomed guests, with olives, lemon twists and cocktail onions aplenty. Once they fixed themselves a drink, the crowd made their way into Rubio’s living room, where her art collection was on full display, and a nearby tablescape featured Alimentari Flaneur delicacies on Ginori 1735 pieces.
“Over the 15 years of starting editing, cultivating Cultured magazine, one of the biggest areas of interest I had was interviewing collectors,” Harrelson said of her motivation for the book. “There’s something so infectious about people who have real passion and people who collect at all levels, which is something that’s really important to me. I think it’s one of those things where there are a lot of guardrails in the world understanding how people come about to start buying art and what that means. And sometimes it can be intimidating and I wanted to break down some of those barriers and showcase how people live with art and become people who support the arts beyond just buying art.”
Director Celine Song found a seat in one of Rubio’s armchairs and began to peruse the book, while Kareem Rahma and Todd Snyder chatted. Other guests who popped by included Joseph Altuzarra; Lauren Santo Domingo; Jamie Tisch; Daniella Kallmeyer; Olympia Gayot; Sam McKinniss; Reed, Delphine and Lily Krakoff; Athena Calderone; Paul Tazewell; Cecilia Alemani; Adam Eli, Massimiliano Righi, and Kate Young. Rubio’s daughter, clad in Toy Story pajamas, made a brief appearance, as did her husband Stewart Butterfield (the pair announced their separation this summer).
Harrelson said the project allowed her to discover those who she didn’t initially know were interested in art.
“Someone that stands out is Scooter Braun. I didn’t know him at all, but we had a lot of friends in common, and he’s a great collector,” Harrelson said. “And when I went to his home, basically everyone who worked with him disappeared and he spent about two-and-a-half hours walking me through his house talking about every single acquisition that often included a text to an artist, some sort of negotiation or finding the best piece. And again, I didn’t know him, but I think it’s the people like that who you’re like, what’s behind this? What’s motivating them to do it?”
