Seth Brammer

The Wild Detectives
Dallas, April 26–28, 2019

Skin Contact

Dallas’s first natural wine bar.
One weekend, out in the open.

Come on in

Seth Brammer · April 26, 2019

Jeffrey Gregory and I created Skin Contact, a three-day natural wine bar at The Wild Detectives in April 2019. I designed the identity and campaign and produced the weekend. Jeffrey and Julie Buckner Lane chose and sourced the wines; Josh Sutcliff cooked.

Scope
Co-creation of concept, identity, campaign materials, and event production
With
Josh Sutcliff — food; Jeffrey Gregory — concept co-creator, wine selection and sourcing; Julie Buckner Lane — wine selection and sourcing with Bar & Garden; The Wild Detectives — venue; Lisa Nguyen — event photographs and video
Project
April 26–28, 2019 · Dallas

Making the invitation

We stenciled the event name, dates, and web address onto the sidewalk.

Close view of the Skin Contact chalk stencil.
Skin Contact event announcement

Give the press a taste

I arranged a media tasting ahead of the public weekend, inviting writers to try the wines.

The media tasting I arranged ahead of Skin Contact. Instagram post, April 23, 2019.

Press · Dallas Wine Chick · May 16, 2019

The resulting feature covered the trade and media tasting, the panel led by Jeffrey Gregory, and the public weekend at The Wild Detectives.

Natural Wine: Unfiltered, Untamed and Unphotoshopped … And Completely Fabulous ↗

Before the doors opened

“We found the lettuce. Come get some this weekend.”
Seth Brammer · Instagram, April 25, 2019

Harvesting before the weekend. From my original invitation post.

From the farm to the courtyard

A wine bar in the courtyard

Natural wine by the glass, with food by Josh Sutcliff.

The courtyard during Skin Contact. From my April 30, 2019 Instagram post.
Natural wine in the courtyard. Photograph: Lisa Nguyen, April 27, 2019.
Wine and food at the table. Food by Josh Sutcliff. Photograph: Lisa Nguyen, April 27, 2019.
An afternoon in the courtyard. Photograph: Lisa Nguyen, April 27, 2019.
Opening-night wine service. April 26, 2019. Video: Lisa Nguyen.
Josh Sutcliff at the cooking station. April 27, 2019. Video: Lisa Nguyen.

Pass the porrón

Making the chalkboards

We built and stained the wooden frames, painted the panels, and lettered the boards for the weekend.

Jessica making a chalkboard sign for Skin Contact.

From artwork to chalk

Chalkboard artwork

The chalkboards used the event lettering and spilling-glass illustration, with space to write in the wines.

The design
Natural wine board artwork.
At The Wild Detectives
The wine boards in use. Photograph: Lisa Nguyen.
The design
Weekend announcement artwork.
At the event
The invitation at the event. Photograph: Lisa Nguyen.
The design
Food from the Farm board artwork.
At the event
The Food from the Farm chalkboard at Skin Contact.

The weekend, as shared

Guests and farm partners shared the weekend as it happened.

April 24, 2019. Shared story from @cartermerefarms.
April 28, 2019. Cooking at Skin Contact.

Press · The Dallas Morning News · April 10, 2019

Can natural wine go mainstream in Dallas? Pop-up shop in Oak Cliff gives it a swirl ↗

Press · D Magazine · Eve Hill-Agnus · April 24, 2019

“What you can expect is a three-day backyard party, 3 p.m. until midnight.”
Head to The Wild Detectives This Weekend for a Natural Wine Pop-Up Bar ↗
Next projectThe Food Talk