AZ88's Christmas tree inspires romance, existentialism

At AZ88 (Credit: Deirdre Hamill/azcentral.com)

It's actually pretty magical.

It's not ironic, or funny or controversial. The Christmas art installation at AZ88 this year is just breathtaking.

The restaurant's lights are turned low and in the center of the room shimmers a massive Christmas tree of broken wine and martini glasses, lit white from within.

I saw it Wednesday night with a friend and the effect of all those broken glasses and twinkling lights is impossibly romantic, both in the sense that it makes you want to kiss the person nearest you, and also that it speaks to ideas of mystery, remoteness, idealized beauty and grand gestures.

It’s enchanting because designer Janis Leonard has created something gorgeous from broken things. And that is reassuring, because people can be like that, too. It makes you feel like everything, everyone, is redeemable, that something glorious can come from something fractured.

My friend Jay is a server there and said Leonard has been collecting glasses for four years from AZ88 and Bar 89 in Manhattan. After a second, I realized I must have a glass or two up on that tree.

And the thought delighted me as I sat in the dim glow, sipping my Pimm’s Cup, feeling all sparkly myself, like I was reflecting back the glow of the tree. It was one of those moments when the night cracks open, and you can see that the world is secretly covered with glitter. But maybe that was just me. 

Go see it. Take a date. Or take someone you'd like to date.

And if it doesn't work out, you can just think of that glittering tree of broken glasses as a metaphor for your heart—beautiful even with, or because of, the damage.