Katherine Harrell and Brian Supler consider themselves serial networkers. Compulsive even. It may have been inevitable, then, that when the two met for the first time in January, they'd conceive of a new social networking project -- part dinner club, part roving salon, part art installation, and partly an excuse to bring their friends and business acquaintances together under one roof, and around one long table.

"I always feel like there are people who should know each other, who have never had an opportunity to connect," said Ms. Harrell, 26, of Dormont.

About 20 of them connected last month, the first of what Ms. Harrell and Mr. Supler hope will be a series of events built around a private membership club. They call it "Native" and believe it's unique in a city of Elks lodges and Duquesne clubs. "I think there is room in Pittsburgh for a club like this," Ms. Harrell said.

Mr. Supler, 36, thinks so, too. A Washington, Pa., native, he returned home in September 2008, after stints in Europe and Russia, then 10 years in Manhattan. In New York, he visited the Soho House, a private membership lounge and hotel in the city's meat-packing district, one of Native's many influences (another is TED, short for Technology, Entertainment, Design, an invitation-only event for thinkers and creative types). Years from now, Mr. Supler said, Native could be a club with a physical space like the Soho, perhaps a dining room, a bar and meeting rooms.

It's by chance that Mr. Supler would be here to see those plans through. He had no intention of staying here when he left New York last year; he thought Pittsburgh would be a pit stop on his way farther south. But when he got here, he opened a bakery (YUM Bake Shop), launched a small line of T-shirts (ResponsibiliTeez), and ended up staying.

Eventually, his business ventures brought him in touch with Pittsburgh's Social Innovation Accelerator, Ms. Harrell's former employer. After the two met, they took a walk in a Washington County park and talked.

"Katherine and I wanted to launch this idea and see if we could get people to connect," Mr. Supler said. "Both of us are natural networkers.

"It kind of baked itself."

The first Native event, at Fe Art Gallery in Lawrenceville, was a four-hour, $100-per-ticket affair, a feat of culinary engineering, given that the gallery has no kitchen (Six Penn Kitchen chef Keith Fuller staged parts of the dinner -- grilled watermelon salad, mole-topped chicken with falafel, plus appetizers and desserts -- out of his car). Making it onto the off-the-record guest list were a professional dancer, a museum curator, a college professor, a caterer, an investor, a magazine publisher, and several others, including, somewhat oddly, a business journalist.

Ms. Harrell -- whose five years in Pittsburgh were preceded by time in West Virginia and in her hometown of Scarsdale, N.Y. -- said she hopes Native can provide new networking and business opportunities for longtime Pittsburghers, and for the city's newcomers, too. "When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I didn't really know anyone," besides her husband, she said.

Eventually, a core group of friends introduced her to the city's social and creative scenes. "I was always really thankful for that, and I always hoped I could pass that on."

They hope that they can pass it on to other cities, too. Future events may include guests from out of town, and "eventually I'd like to see Native in cities across the U.S.," Mr. Supler said.

They're planning their second dinner for the spring, with 40 invitees instead of 20.

Native's creative team: animation, Stephen Lim; art installation, Alex Etschmaier and Ryan Keene; bartending, Ngai Wharff; food, Keith Fuller; communications, Joel Brown; lighting, Andy Shick; music, Ryan Walsh; photography, Jae Ruberto; Fe gallery space, Jill Larson; spirits, Max Miller; video, Chris Lockerman; Web, Adam Miller; Web copy, Laura Vreck; furnishings, Zerrer's Antiques and Zenith Antiques. Visit www.nativepgh.com for details.

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