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How to get your table laid this Christmas!
November 13, 2019
DD lays down the lore on festive fanfare for your Xmas lunch...
There's nothing like a spot of yuletide spirit to get the creative juices flowing, especially when it comes to decorating and laying the table for that all-consuming, coma-inducing Christmas Day lunch...
So before you turn turkey, let's look at the latest inspiration to be found from the Dark Continent and how you can use what's out there in the bush, and here at Darkie Designs, to make your Christmas table drop-dead gorgeous before someone spills the gravy, knocks over a glass of the best red and face-plants into the food.
The trends this year lean towards a lovely combination of African tribal and vintage colonial, with the overwhelming theme being "less is more". So don't go for the "let's get as many glasses as possible on the table" approach or the "tinsel town" theory that everything glittery and gaudy is good. It's not. Seriously not. So keep Santa where he belongs and make sure Rudolph and his mates are nowhere to be seen. Unless, of course, you want to go over the top kitsch, in which case, just throw it all in there. And take pictures. We want to see.
For us it's all about understated elegance, and while we're known for our often freakish love of the weird, wonderful and downright bizarre, we just love the clean, crisp looks you can get with warm coppers, natural woods, colonial-style silverware and warm tones of purple, deep red and green.
When it comes to table décor, try using mudcloth as a table runner and proteas with num num bush foliage instead of holly and tinsel! Mix in some linen, wooden or woven grass chargers and gran's old cutlery (we love bone handles!) to add a certain "Out of Africa" flavour. Think "blended" and get your inspiration from what's outside - earth tones, organic trimmings, natural wood grains, vibrant textile napkins...
There's nothing wrong with going for a white Christmas - with a plain white linen tablecloth, silver cutlery, white plates, crystal glasses, silver candle holders, green foliage (if you can't get num num bush try some bushwillow, or magic guarri branches which are always lovely and green). White, silver and green are a lovely, if not traditional combination for Christmas tables and still allow you to inject a bit of safari into the mix through grass or wooden chargers and the like.
Centrepieces are also cool - you can go for an arrangement of indigenous foliage with proteas, or work traditional blooms like roses and arum lilies into the mix. Or get a funky wire baobab tree and decorate it like a Christmas tree
The most important thing is to have fun decorating your table. And stuff your faces, drink lots of bubbly before falling into the nearest convenient swimming pool.
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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!
A safari theme never really runs out of viewing time and is particularly popular for interiors at the moment. The warm, earthy tones give a sense of comfort and the accessories offer the anticipation of travel and adventure.
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