A beautiful table setting for every occasion
December 19, 2016
Even poorly made food can possibly be forgiven if a table setting is perfect. At any dinner party, regardless of how casual or formal it is, creating the right atmosphere is key to your guests feeling special.
Table settings hold many psychological tricks and secrets that can turn an awkward event into the perfect dinner party. You don’t need a huge budget either. In fact, just as clever interior design can be creatively inexpensive, your table setting can also be exquisite on a shoe-string budget, no matter what the occasion and it can be really fun to set up.

Build up a colour palette

Tablecloths used to be an absolute essential and not using one was akin to appearing at the party in your underwear, making your guests feel as though your table was undressed! These days it is almost a sin to cover tables, particularly if they cost a fortune and need to be shown off with pride.

Themed table settings are always fun, but you don’t need a specific theme to make a table interesting, just carefully select complimentary shades and build a specific colour scheme. Use nature as your inspiration and blend browns, greens and creams with a splash of orange for a great African inspired table setting.

Finding the right places

It doesn’t matter if it is a casual extended family lunch, a formal birthday party dinner or a wedding party, it is vital that you make a special effort to consider dynamics and where people should be seated. Allowing people to just find their own place does add a “letting the cards fall where they may” element to your party, but it also runs the risk of ending with an inappropriate comment, an argument or worse. Either tell people where to sit if the party is small enough, get creative with little objects of African art, or take the time to make lovely name places that your guests will either verbally, or inwardly thank you for!

Stilted conversation and awkward silences are a dinner party host’s worst nightmare, so if your guests aren’t familiar with each other, add a fun or interesting conversation piece to the table. It could be a bold arrangement of gorgeous flowers or for an African themed table, little wire baobab trees as centerpieces, or leave little printed instructions for origami serviette art.

The key is to get people talking without constantly having to wind up the conversation yourself, and a perfect table setting should do that without a word.

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By Kyra Harper August 15, 2023
Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light.  For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
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