Press Room

Visitors Invited for Summer Evenings of Design and Wine Each Thursday

Wines by Crush Wine & Spirits, Opening Night Cuisine by Chef Mark Ladner of Del Posto

New York, NY (July 29, 2009)

Beginning July 30, the Museum of Arts and Design will open a new pop-up wine bar, MADCrush, that combines the best of food, design, and wine. Created in collaboration with designer Stephanie Goto and Crush Wine & Spirits, the bar will transform MAD’s seventh-floor special events space offering spectacular views of Central Park and Columbus Circle. MADCrush will only be open for five Thursdays through the end of August from 5:00pm until 10:30pm. Goto has created an imaginative dining environment with temporary furniture and décor constructed from recycled wine boxes. A roster of New York’s best chefs, including Mark Ladner, Scott Conant, George Mendes, and Cesare Casella, will provide a menu of small plates accompanied by a selection of fine wines curated by Crush and served in recyclable govino glasses.

“MADCrush is a project that combines many of our interests as a museum,” said Holly Hotchner, Nanette L. Laitman Director of the museum. “In our exhibitions and programs, and now with our wine bar, we explore new design trends as they emerge. We couldn’t be happier to have some of the city’s best chefs and wine professionals come to the museum to share their craft. Stephanie Goto’s design for this temporary space is remarkable, and absolutely in keeping with our curatorial interest in how materials are transformed through the creative process.”

Goto’s design, a collaboration with her friend Takeshi Miyakawa, includes bars and tables crafted from repurposed wine boxes, a seating landscape made from corrugated cardboard wine box dividers and a textured wall made of wine box inserts that doubles as a changeable menu peg board. The design embraces the temporary spirit of the event as all of the components literally “pop up.” Elements are modular, collapsible, and stackable and can be packed up and neatly stored in a closet between events. The creative repurposing of existing materials, a concept that MAD explored in depth with its special exhibition Second Lives, is also an abiding interest of the designer’s.

“This project re-imagines the possibilities of materiality, how materials, still true to their original form, can be transformed so that they can be perceived in a different way,” Goto explained.

The MADCrush menu will change each week, with a different chef providing light cuisine and a tailored selection of wines chosen by Crush Wine & Spirits. Chef Mark Ladner of Del Posto will provide the menu for the opening night on July 30. Scott Conant of Scarpetta, George Mendes of Aldea, and Cesare Casella of Salumeria Rossi will take turns cooking for subsequent sessions. Crush Managing Partner, Bob Schagrin, and his team will work from the menu to showcase their award-wnning selections, as well as share their favorite 'off the beaten path' wines, available by the taste, glass, and bottle.

“We’re delighted to be working on this project with MAD and Stephanie Goto,” said Crush Managing Partner Bob Schagrin. "Stephanie is one of New York's young leading designers. Her vision for MADCrush not only fits MAD’s mission but highlights her creativity to use everyday materials and re-imagine them into a playful sensory experience that embraces this one-of-a-kind New York institution."

Fentiman's soft drinks and Jana Water will be also be served. All drinks will be served in shatterproof, reusable and recyclable govino “Go Anywhere” glasses which will also be available for purchase in the MAD gift shop. Wine and snack prices start at $6. On Thursdays the Museum’s galleries are open until 9:00 pm with a pay-what-you-wish admission. The Museum of Arts and Design is located at 2 Columbus Circle at 59th Street. For information, contact 212.299.7700.

ABOUT CRUSH WINE & SPIRITS

Founded by Wine Spectator multiple-Grand Award winning restaurateur Drew Nieporent, Robert Schagrin and Josh Guberman, Crush Wine & Spirits prides itself on offering the most extensive selection of high-quality, competitively priced wine and spirits from around the world. Crush also specializes in the wines of Burgundy, Champagne, Piedmont, Austria, and Germany.

The Crush motto "the truth is in the bottle," extends from the store's 73 ft. long illuminated wall of wine containing 4000 bottles for everyday drinking to "the Cube," NYC's largest retail temperature controlled room of rare fine wine. The recipient of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Wine Shop in America, Crush also collected a "Best of New York" award from New York Magazine and has been named a Zagat Top Spot. Crush selections are regularly cited in local papers like the New York Times and New York Sun and Crush has been featured in national publications like Oprah Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Wine Spectator, TimeOut New York, and Crain's. Crush wine experts make regular radio and TV appearances on major networks including NBC, ABC and CBS as well as several cable network pilots.

ABOUT STEPHANIE GOTO
Stephanie Goto, Principal and Founder was raised in New York and Tokyo and educated at Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art and Planning where she was the Editor in Chief of the Cornell Journal of Architecture. She began her architectural career working with renowned architect Rafael Vinoly on projects including Jazz at Lincoln Center Rose Hall, Columbia University, International Climate Prediction Center, and University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. She later worked with visionary David Rockwell on restaurants in Philadelphia and Miami and the Motown Museum in Detroit.

Goto established STEPHANIEGOTO in 2004 with the vision for an architectural practice based on a collaborative process that initiates a creative process beyond its normal boundaries to create a totally integrated design concept. In 2006 she completed the Morimoto Restaurant in New York with Architect Tadao Ando and the Buddakan Restaurant in New York with interior designer Christian Liaigre. In 2007 she re imagined the classic Monkey Bar in New York and in Fall 2008 realized Corton, HD Magazine’s 2009 winner for Best Fine Dining Restaurant Design in the former Montrachet location for Chef Paul Liebrandt and New York Restaurateur Drew Nieporent. In May 2009 she unveiled Aldea for chef George Mendes which draws inspiration from the elemental beauty of the Iberian Peninsula and coined the “Restaurant of Tomorrow”. Current projects include an artist in residence studio building, private residences, hotels, restaurants, and student housing, in New York, Connecticut, Los Angeles and Asia.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design explores how craftsmanship, art, and design intersect in the visual arts today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the handmade to cutting edge technologies.

The Museum’s exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by creative and innovative artists. MAD’s permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day.

At the center of the Museum’s mission is education. The Museum’s dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances and symposia related to the Museum’s collection and topical subjects affecting the world of contemporary art, craft and design are held in a renovated 150-seat auditorium.