The Orchid Affair

At Charlotte's Duke Mansion, fine craft dealer Ruth Runberg toasts her spring accessories show with a dinner starring the tall, graceful tropicals (the rarer, the better).

- GRACE HAYNES

ON A BREEZY SPRING EVENING, Ruth Runberg sets a long table aglow with candlelight on the front porch of Charlotte, North Carolina's Duke Mansion. With this orchid-laden dinner, the founder of R. Runberg Curiosities is saluting the finale of her annual spring show, an unveiling of unusual objects and other rarities from around the globe. "I'm driven by discovery," says the shop owner, a former fashion buyer for Barneys and Browns. "Everything I buy is made by hand. That human element gives a sense of soul to each item. And I'm drawn to antiques and vintage pieces because I like to imagine what they've seen and the stories they could tell."