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A Christmas table decorated with local fruits, flowers and veggies
Fantasy botanist and our guest stylist Priyanka Shah leads us through her beautiful and unique Christmas table setting
When it comes to Christmas décor, I think it’s time to shake things up a bit. Bring out all your candles, candle stands, vases, fancy crockery and let’s see how we can use them along with some local botanicals to do something different this year.
To get started, I made a trip to the local fruit, flower and vegetable market, and found elements to play with to decorate the Christmas table. This is what made it to my décor shopping list: apples, plums, pomegranates, red grapes, pumpkins, drumsticks, peaches, eggs, etc. The final setting is economical, organic and of course, unique.
From Mumbai’s largest flower market in Dadar, I found some classic red roses, tall anthuriums, and fresh supari roots. A bunch of eucalyptus leaves, table palms, Monstera leaves to act as supporting elements. Please note that all of these plants are grown in large quantities in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kerala etc. and are available at the local market. Use my tips as a foundation but otherwise let your imagination flow and play with the elements as you like.
A pumpkin is a very good base to build upon. You can paint it gold or red for added drama.
- A pumpkin is a very good base to build upon. You can paint it gold or red for added drama. I have used a banana flower, apples and anthurium flowers to make an elaborate candle stand. You can put this on a platter/cake stand or just a plate to ensure it gets plenty of attention.
- Stack fruits on top of each other to create a little cavity to fit a candle; these make beautiful little sculptural objects. Apples, plums, and pomegranates add to the Christmas mood. Alternatively, you can use also use a bread loaf as a base to stick flowers in and make a little bouquet for the dinner table.
- Supari strings are a very interesting element - they can be simply flowing out of a flower vase or turned into a wreath with little flowers on it. I decided to use this beautiful vase from Address Home and play with the two openings. I cut little pieces of floral foam (which is easily found at flower markets, or it can be purchased online) and stuffed it in both sides. The supari strings were then cut as per requirement with the ends going in on either side. This setting is very easy to make, but visually so strong. You could even do this in a regular vase or a serving bowl and have both ends going into the same vase, forming a fountain of sorts.
- To add height to the composition on the table, get a vase or jug you may have at home, and make a simple arrangement using big dry leaves. You can keep them natural coloured for an organic look. Or you can paint/spray paint them gold, silver or red.
- Drumsticks are undervalued as décor elements. Their slender form helps to add height to a composition, making it more dramatic. Again, paint them in a colour and throw it in a vase along with other botanicals.
- Make sculptures of different sizes and heights, play with different textures and colours, light lots of candles and you are ready for Christmas.
You can use a bread loaf as a base to stick flowers in and make a little bouquet for the dinner table.
Classic red roses, tall anthuriums, and fresh supari roots are all easily available in local markets. Eucalyptus leaves, table palms, Monstera leaves can act as supporting elements.
