One new year down!
Another one on the go.
That was the state of play – and mind! – when I checked in with Deborah Lau-Yu in the interim between Christmas and Jan. 1. As the brains behind Fête Chinoise, and its chief ringleader – the signature Lunar New Year shindig that’s become the most well-produced and possibly most glamorous society gala of all in town, in my book – her plates were spinning. Her hive: on. No holiday lull for her.
“It is the final sprint,” she matter-of-facted, knotted by the fact that it “lands so early this year.” This year’s fête is scheduled for Jan. 25 (back at the Park Hyatt Toronto), compared to ”last year, when it was Feb. 3. It sounds just a few days apart, but a whole week, especially after the holidays … it makes a difference.”
Some of her to-do: working with Wild Vogel Works, the floral designers, to curate a “landscape of blooms that are meaningful in Chinese culture and reminiscent of Suzhou gardens in China.” Also: co-ordinating a volley of live performances meant for the marquee dinner and cocktail party later, including a custom dance piece being planned by William Yong, who was the first ever Asian choreographer commandeered by the National Ballet of Canada for a mainstage production.
The pressure? Compounded, just a tad, by the fact that this year’s event is its 10th edition. In the context of the Chinese zodiac, it is – she reminded me – the Year of the Snake, which, as I understand it, is associated with elegance, charm and transformation. A shrewdness that can also read as enigmatic. What’s that they say about snakes shedding their own skin?
“I’m not just doing this to throw a party!” Lau-Yu rang out at one point. Smiley, bespectacled and effervescent, she then threw out the word “culture.” She would do so repeatedly during our video call. She clearly sees the event as part of a larger mission, of creating a cultural milestone that is anything but ghettoized, that signifies a more confident generation but also “felt well presented, felt fashionable.”
The design part comes naturally – her day job, after all, involves helping to run Ferris Wheel Press, the bespoke stationery company that is delightfully upscale analogue. (Their design studio in Unionville, she told me on another occasion, “has vintage printing presses that we still use … the clinking and tinkering sounds of our letterpress and foil press, the turning flywheel …”)
The origin story for Fête Chinoise itself? It came about initially via a natural dialogue with the Shangri-La Hotel here, which hosted the first edition. It was also inspired by her work being “immersed in the David Foster charity galas” (she was part of the design team for graphics and event branding). That inspired her “to create something new and elevated to represent my diaspora community.”
Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the year it had that landmark fashion exhibition, “China: Through the Looking Glass” – and staying there rapt, until it was basically closing – was also a huge driver. Her ongoing goal? To create a spectacle, but also to lean into the “artifacts, architecture, patterns and objets of the past that I want to connect and create within our contemporary realm,” as she puts it. “The layers of storytelling through the visual details alone, on top of the performances and exhibitions …”
Indeed, the gala itself has turned into a living embodiment of the quarterly magazine Yau-Lu also puts out, playing up the personalities and passions of the disparate Asian community. Also called Fête Chinoise, it, unexpectedly, is one of the most beautiful publications being put out anywhere.
The spirit of the gala is also entangled with the history of the Chinese people in this country. Obvious when she nods, in passing, to the “building of the railways” and “the Chinese Exclusion Act,” a dark blot in our own history of immigration.
Looking back over a decade – two of the galas she put on, she was pregnant! – her memories are further enmeshed in her own family history. There is her grandmother, who first taught her how to hold a traditional brush and to write in Chinese. Then, her own mother, who came here with basically nothing, but immigrated to attend U of T in the 1960s. She went on to finish her masters and devote her life to the community, working as a librarian and manager with the Toronto Public Library, and playing an integral role in building new branches of libraries and establishing various literary programs.
So what to do to top last year’s gala, which zeroed in on the Year of the Dragon and featured long, playful tables shaped like dragons – an absolute explosion of curvature and colour. Lau-Yu admitted that they are not going so literal this year – “even though the joke is that we could recycle our tables,” in this, a Snake year.
The concept this time is more of a garden theme – “classic Chinese design” – and the theme simple: “Decades.” We are, she went on, “thinking of generational wealth, in terms of culture. Culture as a generational baton.”
See fetechinoise.com for more info and tix.
