From Quiet Luxury To Cottagecore: Here Are 5 Ideas To Style A Diwali Tablescape
Elevate your hosting game, this Diwali with DP’s tablescaping guide, featuring everything from eco-conscious designs to understated stealth wealth.
30Oct'24
11:48 ambySimran Almeida
Crafting a perfect tablescape is akin to designing a home, requiring equal parts aesthetics and a healthy dose of functionality. With the festive season on the horizon, planning a glitzy rendezvous for family and friends is as vital as illuminating one’s home. Often, a table serves as the pièce de résistance for conversations and ritualistic card games, bringing people together to celebrate, share stories, and savour traditional cuisine. This festival of light elevates your hosting prowess with DP’s décor ideas that infuse your tablescape with festive charm.
1. Keep It Fresh With Florae
Diwali’s connection to florae traces its roots to the venerable Puranas—Old Tales, enlightening readers on the rituals to worship a deity. Consequently, incorporating flowers and hints of greens into your tablescape can either make a statement or serve as a reminder of Diwali’s folklore—of exile in the forest.
Seasonal florae infuse a sense of freshness, and foraging in the backyard for leaves and branches adds a personal immersive touch to the decorating experience. Use the flora to craft rangolis, or just as a base to display the centrepiece and in some sustainable instances, even to serve food. The blooms can be cut and tied into bunches, arranged in vintage tureens and placed between the tableware or as a focal point. To enhance the depth of décor, use vases of varying heights crafted from materials like wood, glass or ceramic, from brands like Utopia & Utility. These reflect personal style while creating chic, vibrant visuals.
Diwali’s pomp and grandeur can be encapsulated even through natural materials by embracing a more cottagecore aesthetic, hosts can reflect a mindful commitment to eco-consciousness. Opt for natural hues with materials—wicker, natural wood, and pampas grass. Combined with earthen tableware and a flowy linen base, these ingredients create a rustic fantasy that celebrates the festival of light with a warm ambience, evoking a sense of nostalgia for cherished gatherings around bonfires.
Begin by choosing a hand-crafted dining table like the one from Rhizome’s Mathaar collections which blend rustic with brass accents, adding a touch of heritage. Enhance the aesthetic with vases from Studio Abaca, Muun Home’s Kai Organic Bowlsand dual-toned wooden plates, to complete the enchanting cottagecore setup. Alternatively, you could deck up your table with an array of natural textures; like wicker placemats and coasters from Studio Kolus and table runners.
3. Infuse Metals Accents
These gleaming metals pay homage to the traditional Diwali practice of acquiring precious metals, symbolising prosperity and abundance. Layering the timeless elegance of metals with the other tchotchkes introduces a captivating glimmer to the tablescape, that evokes both sumptuousness and spiritual resonance. While gold and brass are customarily used in Indian festivals for their warm hues, silver perfectly fits a more contemporary vibe.
These lustrous accents, whether as brass cutlery from Gado Living, glimmer beautifully under festive lights, creating a radiant yet layered aesthetic. The brass trays and candelabras from Viya Home serve as the table’s centrepiece, adding a touch of sumptuousness and tying the entire setting together.
Diwali is a festival steeped in the vibrancy of flamboyant rangolis that symbolise life cycle and balance. Mirroring this essence in your tablescape is an ode to that verve. By embracing a kaleidoscope of hues, one can concoct them with intricate patterns that are a blend of traditional motifs or more abstract art– dealer’s choice.
Kainaat’s table runners and mats, from The House Of Things adorned with Anatolia’s traditional kilimsmotifs complement the patterned plates from Vyom By Shuchita’s Bahaarloom collection. Add striking glassware to finish the perfect layer for your maximalist fantasy. This mélange of patterns and colours evokes the joyful spirit of Diwali, creating a sense of balance for guests to revel in conversations and card games.
5. Hold Onto The Warmth With Candles and Fairy Lights
Illuminating the table is a key expression of the festivities. Picture a table suffused in an ethereal glow, adorned with an exquisite array of candles, from slender tapers to lofty pillars, all nestled in chic holders. The gilded pendant lights from Beyond Design, diffuse a soft glow on the entire table setting.
The harmonious combination of traditional ‘diyas’ from Indian Heirloom Co. and Studio Zimik’s scented soy candles, casts a mystical glow, illuminating the gathering with a warm radiance that embodies Diwali’s allure. This radiant display, snuggled in opulent, handcrafted diya holders of polished brass or etched glass, drenches the space in a plush, inviting ambience. The flickering flames enhance the warmth of the tablescape while the candles infused with opulent sandalwood and delicate jasmine notes orchestrate a sensory experience with the table setting.