When a talented private chef meets up with a couple of blue-chip furniture dealers, and ends up with a design-inspired cocktail menu? We call that an eat cute. New York chef Antoni Porowski sat down with his friends and clients Barry Rice and Roger Ward — owners of the 20th century furniture gallery Full Circle Modern — to create party-ready recipes inspired by the look, mood, and materials of some truly stunning design pieces. In the first of a series of five posts, Porowski brings an exotic twist to the work of Karl Springer. To learn more about Porowski and Full Circle Modern, read the full profile in Introspective.
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“Karl Springer was a master when it came to wrapping furniture,” notes Rice. With these pieces, the German-born, U.S.-based Springer showcases this skill in a wooden console table and matching mirror covered in lacquered Indonesian batik fabric. Crunchy, unripe mango sticks, meanwhile, are both a common Southeast Asian street food and have the same vibrant palette as Springer’s piece. Porowski found that the natural variations in the print “gave the pieces a sense of energy and movement,” which he translated into a lively chili-sugar-salt rub used to coat the fruit — a gesture that also mimics the designer’s enveloping technique.
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Karl Springer Batik Console and Mirror, circa 1975
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Three unripe mangoes
One green papaya
Juice of one lime
One cup granulated sugar
Three tablespoons kosher salt
Small handful of crushed, dried Thai chiles
• Peel mangoes and papaya with paring knife
• Slice fruits vertically, avoiding pit, seeds and pith
• Using mortar and pestle, grind chiles into a fine powder
• Combine sugar, salt and chiles to create a uniform powder
• Place fruit on wooden skewers and moisten with lime juice
• Roll each skewer in spice rub prior to serving
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