Photo by Caitlin Abrams
salonniere
The circuitous routes we’ve been navigating since the pandemic started have often led to unpredictable, but not always unwelcome, beginnings. Case in point: Salonnière. The brainchild of Liz Gardner, Salonnière explores the themes and historical roots of gatherings within domestic settings.
First launched online through a series of stories, Salonnière soon added in-person events, such as chef-driven dinners, before going back to online-only during COVID’s uptick. Today, it takes shape in both URL and IRL forms, and its latest iteration is Salonnière Paper—a hefty 40-page publication packaged in newsprint broadsheets that includes illustrated stories exploring themes of domestic gatherings.
Housed inside Maison Bodega, the historic Minneapolis house Gardner renovated and where she launched the design firm Bodega, Salonnière comes to life through events that focus on domestic pursuits. Recent ticketed gatherings include musical performances, monthly social hours, and workshops. Monthly $49 memberships grant first access to these events and to an online archive of more than 100 interviews, research, and visual podcasts, plus printed ephemera, including Salonnière Paper. “I like having all these pieces moving at once,” Gardner says.
The paper, which sells for $25, will publish annually as a retrospective of the past year’s themes. The debut issue traces the roots of dinner gatherings and the symbolic meaning of salons, shells, and grottos, as well as motherhood and home.
