Designer Thomas Schoos Unloads Warehouse into BURLAP: Buffalo Skulls, Taxidermy, Bug Collection

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With just two weeks until Brian Malarkey’s BURLAP is set to debut, Eater caught up with the chef and designer Thomas Schoos who was busy organizing his final installations. Apparently, Schoos has unloaded a ton of his warehouse into BURLAP to create an “eclectic house” complete with water buffalo skulls, taxidermic specimens, 200-year-old metal dragons, and animatronic Chinese lanterns/dance costumes that hang over the indoor bar area. Schoos sums up the wares as stuff he found while “back-packing around the world in Japan, China, the Philippines, Thailand, India, South Africa, and Brazil.”

For instance, the outdoor bar is actually made from the front of a sixteen foot tall 19th century Indonesian house that was cut in half, some of the tables are from 150-year-old trees whose wood is left raw so not to “fuck it up,” lots of Pakistani rugs, and even Schoos’ South African bug collection is on display in 1940’s Philippine cabinetry. The lanterns/dance costumes, which are Schoos' favorite piece, are one of the few items sourced domestically, actually “in a Santa Monica thrift shop down by where the hookers are.” There are hookers in Santa Monica?

Also, some slight date changes. Doors open to a ‘Canter’ charity benefit for retired race horses on July 19, there's a VIP cocktail party on the July 20 (opening day of the Del Mar race track), with dinner service softly rolling out on the July 21.
·Brian Malarkey's Massive BURLAP Opens August 4 [~ELA~]
·Brian Malarkey To Open Burlap, A " Social Dining Experience" [~ELA~]
— David Morris