Links to Beautiful Table Ideas.

A visually appealing table they say can stimulate appetite, create comfort and insure your guests will want to linger longer!

Sarah Hampson

It’s snowing here in Chester, Nova Scotia, which has buried my Spring excitement - for now. There have been hints of warmer weather and days of stark sunshine. My daffodils are trying very hard to emerge. They’re like hope under Trump. Sometimes, you feel it. There’s evidence of rising protests. But then, slam, something happens - he doubles down on some decision - and the hope disappears under a blanket of doom. I felt some empathy for the green daffodil sprouts under snow this morning. Try again later this week, I wanted to tell them. Don’t give up.

But I haven’t completely let myself be snowed under, as it were. I can still think about tablescapes, can’t I?

Most people focus on the art of the food that gets served when you invite friends over. And of course, that matters. That’s Mark’s area of expertise. He takes great pleasure in cooking, and does a great job, always adding something new and interesting.

I like to think about how the table looks. And Easter, as my children know, is one of my favourite holidays, partly because of the spring hope it involves and also because it is not freighted with the same heavy expectations of Christmas.

So, below, are some links to wonderful tableware stores and information about some of the artists we know who create beautiful things. Tables can be islands of great beauty that you’re inviting your friends and family to visit. A performance art of a sort. They create magic.

Homeware designer and artist Eve Gordon, creates beautiful interiors and one-of-a-kind table settings under her brand ‘Chez Eve’ for an international clientele seeking personalized design.

We know Eve Gordon, an artist and homeware designer, because she’s a neighbour of ours in Chester. Dinner parties in the summer at her house here are unlike any others. Guests sit around a round table that she has painted the surface of (see below, pic in middle of top row) with an intricate design. She also designs and paints tall candlesticks - almost Baroque in style.

I love round tables for the way they encourage an inclusive conversation. More intimate. I grew up in formal dining rooms with long rectangular tables, schooled in the practice of ensuring seatmates on both sides of me were addressed equally in conversation. It’s a faux pas to monopolize one over the other. (And I used to joke that my interview skills as a journalist, profiling many famous people, grew from this dining room etiquette. It can be a job striking up - and maintaining - an interesting conversation with some people.)

Based in Toronto and Chester, NS, Eve will be exhibiting her tableware collections at a special English tea party on Saturday, May 10th, at The Lobby by Heaps Estrin, 1120 Yonge Street, Toronto. For further details, please contact Beth Crago, beth@heapsestrin.com

Another great resource is Hopson Grace in Toronto, run by my childhood friend, Andrea Hopson and her business partner, Martha Grace McKimm. They source one-of-a-kind items, such as placemats and gorgeous linens, bowls and vessels. Andrea worked for Tiffany for many years as vice-president. Her eye is impeccable. Martha worked as a public relations expert in luxury brands for Veritas Communications.

Partners and friends Andrea Hopson and Martha Grace McKimm, have quickly become Toronto’s premier destination for fine table linens and tableware, beautifully showcased at their new 200 Dupont St, showroom in the Annex.

When we’re in London, England, we like to drop by Fiona Finds, located just off Sloane Street. She also has a terrific online presence. She has lovely treasures in her store, and they’re not terribly expensive. Plus, she’s Britishy in a posh but friendly way.

Fiona Dreesmann’s extensive career in the luxury goods sector, manifested itself into finally owning her own elegant store. ‘Fiona Finds’ is located at 29 Lowndes St, in Belgravia, London, and carries an exclusive array of European linens, china and glass providing a full customized service for their bespoke clientele.

A mother to triplets, Fiona is a force of nature whose love of hard work is what she admires most in others and believes has been the cornerstone of her own success with Fiona Finds. Her classic brand color of olive green is her favorite, providing the perfect store backdrop for displaying her collections. Splitting life between London and Switzerland, she says she unwinds from a busy work day by embroidering by the fire with her Swiss born husband Bernard, Chairman, Morley Stores Ltd, and her beloved pug ‘Stanley’.

Also worth checking out is Summerill and Bishop in London. The tablecloths are exquisite.

Founded in 1994 by friends June Summerill and Bernadette Bishop, Summerill & Bishop opened their first artisanal tableware store in Holland Park before a second location in Belgravia. Sadly Bernadette died of a brain hemorrhage in 2014. Her son, Seb Bishop, ran the business with June until her own passing.

I love this comment from Seb Bishop: “We have found that people stay longer at a table that is beautifully laid, and the foundation for this is a beautiful tablecloth. Our tablecloths are for life, not just for dinner! We like to think that people will pass them on as family heirlooms for all the gatherings that take place.”

I have simple Provencale tablecloths, bought in village markets in France for a nominal amount. They’re useful and pretty. One year when we were in the south of France, I came home with several in different colours and gave them to my daughter-in-laws as presents.

Other great sources are below, worth checking out.

Pomegranate have great choice. They work with India Hicks, the British designer, writer and former model. Pomegranate just posted their spring edition. We bought a beautiful tablecloth and napkins that will be brought out for our Easter table.

I asked my friend, Willa Black, the queen of the divine tablescape, where she buys her table linens. She listed a bunch of great American brands but agreed that no one wants to buy from the U.S. at the moment.

A great suggestion of hers is Ecru in Jaipur.

Below are some images from the table Mark and I love to set outside when the weather is warm. The wide covered verandah on this house in Chester is one of the reasons we bought it. We could immediately picture having friends and family around it.

Hope you enjoy these links.

Mark and I love entertaining our friends during the summer, and have a magical shaded spot where the hummingbirds keep our guests entertained between courses. Living as we do on the Chester peninsula means there is always a pleasant breeze even on the hottest of days.

Not long now before the hummingbirds return and we can get outside to enjoy the garden. We have lots of improvements we want to make, one of which is adding a flagpole to fly our Canadian flag proudly. Does anyone know where we can buy a flagpole in Nova Scotia?

Love,

Sarah