In collaboration with Habitat.

I think gathering and eating delicious food in winter is the very best tonic to winter misery/political woe. The dark evenings make them perfect for candlelit meals and fires. I had a lot of fun pulling this shoot together for Habitat a few weeks ago, and then also enjoying the table afterward with my family. 

My house is often full of foliage for styling, floral and wreath workshops. Dave says it’s like living in Jumaji and I love it! To get the best out of the flowers I need for workshops, I will often plan a photoshoot the day before using all the material.  It’s rare that I get so many flowers in my home to play with! So, in light of a house that has recently been particularly stuffed full of foliage and flowers, I decided to create a flower cloud. My flower and foliage cloud is made from foraged bracken and grasses, wild thyme, Gypsophila, Statis and a few other stems of loveliness I found on my studio floor! 

In this setup, I have put into practice my tried and tested styling rules to create a warm sumptuous table. It’s a winning formula!

The 5 key ingredients a creating a sumptuous table:

1. A simple colour palette.

   Choose one grounding colour and one to two main colours for your palette to keep things feeling unified. Of course, you can experiment with using lots of different colours, but sticking to a base of two to three colours in the linens, flowers and stationery lends a visual coherence and brings the dinner together. 

2. Lux layers. 

   Layer up your table with lots of contrasting textures like linen, stacked crockery, napkins and glassware

3. Height.

   Height adds drama. Here, i’ve created a floral ‘cloud’ to hang over the table. This sort of hanging arrangement doesn’t restrict guests view or ability to talk. It also leaves the table free for more dishes of food.

4. Soft light. 

   Lighting has a huge effect on the feel of a gathering. Steer clear of overhead lights and go for soft lighting at the edges of the room, or candles on the tables. 

5. Flowers, foliage and finishing flourishes. 

   Whether you put a single sprig of Rosemary on each plate, or install a maximalist hanging installation and fill the table with flowers, adding natural elements is critical to add warmth and life to a table.

(These tips are taken from my e-book: A Soulful Christmas Gathering which is £9, more info here. )

I chose the Olmo collection in a fennel coloured speckled glaze and I am in love with the colour and texture. I paired the Olmo crockery with a soft light grey linen tablecloth and napkins, a brown Oren jug, and some elegant Hamburg wine gasses. Candles are set in White marble Ivy candle holders.

These items set my simple colour palette: grey, green and brown. I have echoed these colours in my flower and foliage cloud too.

This set up would be equally as wonderful in Spring or Summer, incorporating different seasonal foliage. The green of the crockery is timeless, and feels ‘of the season’ no matter what season it is in! In Autumn, i’d incorporate more rust colours, in spring, i’d mix in pale pink and yellow. 

But as it is now winter time, my sincere hope for all of us, especially in light of the recent freezing weather, cold germs doing the rounds and the election result, are lots of simple cozy gatherings with people we love. 

Here’s to that.

Hannah x