As the festive season approaches, the art of creating a captivating Christmas table suddenly comes simmering to the top of our list of things we must nail. And the good news is that, unlike the actual hard work of making the lunch, laying the table is all about the fun. You can, of course, become very serious about it all, but that would be to miss the point. The whole purpose of making a table look pretty is to be conducive to conviviality, and conviviality tends to fly out of the window when a shrill insistence on perfection moves in. It is, as ever, all in striking the right balance. It’s pretty simple though: do make it festive and fun; don’t care so much that you ruin it.
These are the ever lovely things from ever lovely brands that we would like to lay on our Christmas table this year.
By Nancy Alsop
December 2023
Top Table: 5 Inspiring Brands To Know When Planning A Christmas Table
Discover the most inspiring brands to elevate your Christmas table and deliver festive magic that will form the centrepiece of your feast.
Skye McAlpine Tavola
The Venice-based cookery writer has a knack for imbuing everything she touches with flair and magic. Her Italian tableware is maximalist and therefore, we think, absolutely perfectly suited to Christmas feasting. Her Frutti Di Bosco plates would look a dream scattered across a festive tablescape. And it is the law that, should you invest in her tableware, you must round off the repast with a proper panettone.
Summerill & Bishop
Founded by June Summerill and Bernadette Bishop in 1994 on the leafy and unhurried Clarendon Cross, Summerill & Bishop has been purveying ultra-chic kitchen and table wares ever since. Its tablecloths, though undeniably expensive, are exceptionally enchanting and at no time more than Christmas.
Mrs Alice
Alice Naylor-Leyland – aka Mrs Alice – has made a whole business out of tablescaping. You can buy her wares piecemeal or opt for whole looks which, in her case, are typified by their whimsical appeal and the fact that they are suffused with fairytale charm. Shop by edit – this Christmas, examples of such include Mrs Claus and A Winter’s Tale – and rest assured you’ll have everything you need for a very merry yuletide indeed.
Rebecca Udall
Rebecca Udall was just 25 when she founded her eponymous brand in 2018, its founding mission to purvey fine European linens and artisan and heritage homeware. She says, ‘I believe our homes have a large impact to our wellbeing. They should be our place of comfort - that 'home' feeling.’ We quite agree.
Sophie Conran
You can rely on a Conran to know effortlessly and instinctively how to make a table sing. Sophie, famed for her Portmeirion whites, is a master of the art.
By
Nancy Alsop
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Published December 2023
Nancy is a magpie for the best in design and culture.
