THE JOURNAL
There’s no avoiding it. The festive season is upon us and that means gearing up for what for many is the most important meal of the year. The one culinary event that is prepared for weeks, sometimes months, in advance. Recipes are earmarked. Timings are tested. Organic, beer-drinking, Ayurvedic head-massaged birds are put on order at the bougiest butcher you can find. Add to that a throng of family, friends or otherwise thrown-together waifs and strays and we’re heading towards quite an event. As a time to come together and bask in rose-tinted nostalgia, phones will be banished from the table, and there will be talking, joking and, hopefully, an appreciation for the food, drink and joyful decoration in front of you.
With so much focus on the table you’ll be sitting around, don’t let its dressing be an afterthought. There can be a certain charm to artfully curated mismatched plates and cutlery, but let’s face it, most of us don’t have the panache or eclectic vintage glassware (no, various shapes of pilfered pint glasses don’t count) to pull it off. Far better is to identify a unifying theme based on your personal taste and build out your tableware and accessories from there. To make things a little easier for you this year, we have identified five stylistic starting points and some of the key items that will make your tablescape one to be remembered.
01.
Revamped rustic
Imagine that you’re sitting at a long, solid oak table, draped with a raw linen tablecloth in natural white (this TEKLA one might do). The low late-afternoon sun drifts in over the cornfields and through the latticed window, throwing deep shafts of light across the scene in front of you, finally pooling in the darkness of the hearth. Tactile ceramics in natural tones bear the fruits of previous days’ labours – local cheeses, quince jelly and a hand-raised pie can be shared among the aptly named Abbey dinner plates from Soho Home, their deep rust glaze offsetting a stoneware jug from the same brand.
Sourdough bread and butter sit on a set of tasteful, petal-edged accent plates in complementary speckled off-white from Studio M, the in-house brand of Japanese Marumitsu Poterie, while homemade pickles are collected in unique Onta ware dishes from NOMA t.d. Is this Bathsheba Everdene’s festive spread? No, it’s yours. Or, it could be, if your heart pines for a high-quality, contemporary retelling of the farmhouse fantasy.
Finish it all off with a few final effortless touches, such as the wood and stainless steel serving set from Lorenzi Milano and some simple but effective tumblers from The Conran Shop. (To be topped up with water from the well in your courtyard, naturally.)
02.
Silver service elegance
For those who prefer a more elevated look for their table, turn to the timeless elegance and champagne sparkle of silver service dining. We’re talking starched white tablecloths and napkins, matching white crockery, classic glassware and the full setting of cutlery (remember, work from the outside in). But we’re not stuck in the past – the best way to bring this theme up to date, and ensure it is truly worthy of your holiday meal, is to add a handful of extravagant accessories that will act as both talking points and markers of your prestige style.
These sterling silver salt and pepper shakers from Asprey, with their enamel accents, channel the bold forms and materiality of Art Deco design, while an elegant porcelain salad bowl crafted in Florence for Buccellati brings both a little colour to the table and a little refinement to your sprouts. Who cares about sprouts, though, when you’re dishing up spoonfuls of black gold on a mother-of-pearl caviar set?
The only thing left to finish off this exercise in ultimate luxury would be to wash it all down with a tipple from your Ralph Lauren Home crystal decanter, sporting the brand’s iconic plaid design. Chic.
03.
Pared-back craft
Perhaps all this is just a little too much for you, though? Forget moody rustic charm and OTT glamour – you feel more at home surrounded by clean and minimal design, lifted with touches of subdued colour or soft metalwork.
Another direction for your tableware this December might then be a refined, artisan-led approach. We’d suggest starting off with a strong, architectural centrepiece, for which we have two superb options. This amorphous, smooth stoneware bowl from Toogood’s first homeware collection will sit like a cloud on your table, bringing ephemeral charm to the occasion. Alternatively, a sculptural platter, like this from L’Objet and Kelly Behun, crafted from smoked oak, brings to mind ancient ritualistic forms.
To sit around this alter, we need serving utensils and drinking vessels. Some of the best design and handcrafts come out of Japan, a fact highlighted by both this Japan Best brass dining set, featuring versatile spoons and forks for tossing, stirring and eating, and these porcelain cups, from a collaboration between By Japan and Beams, depicting symbols that represent the 47 prefectures of the country. Let’s hope your cooking is equally considered.
04.
Polychrome aesthetic
Is your home filled with cheese plants, and do you have a penchant for terrazzo? If the answer is yes, then a hype-worthy table laden with contemporary design pieces is a must. Go for colourful pops of glassware like this handblown R+D.LAB carafe and glass set and dynamic, structural elements such as Tom Dixon’s stainless steel pepper grinder, to bring form, shape and reflective surfaces to your table.
A mix of sustainable materials can also come into play here, even – gasp – plastic. If it’s recycled plastic that was destined for landfill, we’re on board, especially when it’s been made into these totally wavy coasters by Space Available (part of our Small World collection). With all this going on, a plainer background textile is likely your friend, also allowing a few key ceramic pieces their chance to shine. Try an on-trend splatter design, like this platter from The Conran Shop. Your Christmas turkey will have never looked so cool.
05.
Classic neutrals
Finally, how about fulfilling your eggshell-tinted dreams with a textured neutral scheme that even Mr John Pawson would be envious of. Roman & Williams Guild curate the best makers from around the world, and the organic form of this serving dish, hand-thrown by Canadian potter Ms Janaki Larsen, would set a subtle atmosphere. Add further texture with a set of dusky pink enzyme-washed, hand-loomed linen napkins, with a satisfying weight that will hang perfectly over the knee to pick up crumbs of fruit cake or errant spots of cranberry sauce.
However, a table setting is nothing without the means from which to drink and eat. Brunello Cucinelli, the Italian luxury brand renowned for its fine cashmere and textiles, also knows how to make beautiful homeware, including these glazed cups and saucers – the perfect receptacle for your after-dinner coffee, after a cheese course served on an equally fine Ralph Lauren Home cheeseboard.
Dress the whole setting up with some rattan chairs and seasonal foliage, and it will be a jolly time indeed.