The Champagne Chair in the New York Times

The Champagne Chair
by: M. Garcia Teutsch
An abridged version of this essay is featured in the New York Times’ Valentine’s Day Issue
The Objects We Keep for Love
14 February 2026

My love item is from one of the first dates with my husband of now 20 years. It is a chair fashioned from the wire cage, metal wrapping and label affixed to the top of a champagne cork. I used to have the cork too, but after 21 years together, and having lived in three countries, it has disappeared.