Design Inspiration: A Holiday Tabletop

This holiday season we wanted to design a tabletop with a Nordic look– using vintage plates and glasses, since we love Switzerland and the way these elements cohere to evoke a naturalistic landscape. To keep the vibe “earthen”, we used wool placemats and burlap table runners, dressed with fresh limes (an art piece in their own right) and sugar pinecones from Tahoe. We love using pinecones as decor!

All of the flowers were placed into a Finnish basket that we’re really excited to be hosting in our shop (stay tuned for that). The flowers, meanwhile, were simple and elegant: we used Star of Bethlehem, white fringe rose, cottage roses, and basic elements like scented geranium from the garden, as well as carnations.

Carnations, if you can believe it, are coming back into style: they used to be considered “cheesy” but they are having a revival, mostly because they are easy to experiment with and not too expensive. We opened the carnations manually to make them look like cottage roses, and then we added some jasmine for texture and more scent. We put all the flowers in sprouting jars and packed them into the basket, which conveniently disguises the vessel that holds them together. In general, dressing flowers in baskets is a beautiful way to set a table; it looks effortless and enduringly chic.