Going All Out on a Holiday Table
“Because Life Should Be Amusing”
By Tara Kelly
Photos by Sabrina Eberhard
Michael Poulin and Bobby DeFrank’s dog, Derby (pronounced Darby), is named after the English china brand, which is fitting, since Poulin has a slight obsession with china.
Entertaining is in Poulin’s DNA. “My brother and sister-in-law gave me a set of Luminarc wine glasses, with the green stems, for my high school graduation,” Poulin says. He still has them.
Squirrel Hall, the home he and DeFrank share in Millbrook, has been redesigned to prioritize entertaining. “It’s a faux colonial on just three quarters of an acre,” Poulin says, “but between the indoors and outdoors, we have 12 different places to dine, including the table in the wine cellar and, soon, one in the garage.”
To make sense of that, it helps to know that Poulin spent ten years in the hotel business, working for the Ritz-Carlton in the ’80s, “at the height of its formality,” he says, followed by 25 years at L’Oréal, retiring as vice president of creative operations for the luxury division. Along the way, he picked up a vast knowledge of tableware. “Because of what I did in business, some of it rubbed off,” he says.
Many of Poulin and DeFrank’s friends grew up with china, crystal, and silver flatware. The couple will be the first to tell you they did not. Some of those friends don’t entertain that way anymore, and quite a few have passed their heirlooms along to the pair. “It’s great to experience things that are different from what you knew growing up,” Poulin says.
Beyond gifts, he adds to his collections by scouring auctions, estate sales, flea markets, and eBay. “There’s nothing I like better than having 11 pieces and finding the twelfth piece,” he says. What’s unusual about Poulin’s collection is that very little of it comes in complete sets. He has five pieces of this and eight pieces of that—maybe just salad plates in one pattern, and dinner plates and soup bowls in another. It makes for eclectic, fun table settings.
The couple’s Christmas tradition centers on Christmas Eve with Millbrook friends. “The table might be elaborate,” Poulin says, “but it’s an extremely simple meal. A roast and something green, and the best champagne we can afford.” (The perfect excuse to bring out the gold-
rimmed crystal.)
Hand in hand with Poulin’s interest in china is his passion for cooking. “It’s probably my favorite activity, and it’s very therapeutic. It’s the precision, all the ingredients lined up before I start. I use a timer. It’s the left side, right side of the brain thing.” (His business degree is in accounting.)
Pairing china with food can go one of two ways. Poulin looks at the china and envisions a menu, or he decides on a menu and picks a pattern to go with it. “Bobby doesn’t care what the food isor how the table is set. He just wants people to have a good time and not be looking at their watch,” Poulin says.
