How to decorate your garden table for a party
Rosanna Falconer is a powerhouse and polymath of talent. Her tablescapes - which started as a new year's resolution in 2018 to hold more dinner parties - have featured in British Vogue, Glamour and The Daily Telegraph, with clients including Belgravia, Habitat and Cath Kidston. She’s a published writer with articles spanning Cabana Magazine to British Vogue. Drapers Magazine named her as one of their ‘30 under 30’ (2015) and in 2020 Glamour Magazine highlighted her as one of 30 women changing the face of fashion. Today, she describes herself as a “creative, consultant and lover of all things colourful.”
I met Rosanna in the summer before lockdown, wearing fancy dress in the Rajasthan desert. We bonded over our mutual love of exuberant decor and colour. Our friendship developed over lockdown when I sequentially lent her all our sample parasols, which we exchanged over her garden wall accompanied by a much needed and always cheering chat. Her photos of wonderfully inspiring garden and table creations brightened that strange summer.
(above) The Rosanna Parasol Shop Now
I’m a huge admirer of her work and ethos and I’ve loved seeing how she uses our parasols to create magical worlds which inspire and invite joy. We named our Rosanna Parasol after her and I can’t wait to see what whimsical and enchanting scenes she magics this spring.
We’ve both recently returned from Jaipur where she’s been working on a creative project to be released this spring - watch this space. She is the go-to person to ask about styling your Easter celebration.
RF x EAST LONDON PARASOL CO
What will you be doing this Easter?
I'm heading to my parents' house in the Cotswolds! A long-awaited reunion as we have been living in Jaipur for 6 months! My mother is such a brilliant host: there's an Easter egg hunt for my daughters and cousins' children plus an afternoon tea with mini Marmite and cucumber sandwiches, simnel cake and scones.
What’s your go to way of creating a big effect?
Colour! It unites a space and creates an impact the moment your guests arrive. It also sets the mood - consider the excitement of hot pink or the calm of eau de nil blue. If you're afraid of colour, consider using white to pare it back, like colourful candles or napkins with a white tablecloth.
Another way is a focal point and nothing does that better than a parasol! Their height, shape and vivid design all elevate a space. It's the piece that all your guests will comment on, the moment they arrive. Rather like a red lipstick - it makes it look like you’ve made an effort even if you’ve rushed in from a day at work!
What are your key components for a welcoming table?
Nothing too stiff or corporate. Guests will feel nervous if the table looks like a display at a high-end boutique. More often than not, I use plain white plates and a linen tablecloth but then elevate them with printed napkins, ribbons around the cutlery and hand-painted place names for each guest. Flowers are integral to this: nothing worse than floristry that blocks guests' view of each other. I like blooms and foliage to fall across a table rather like they might in a wild meadow.
Money no object: what would you do for a party/ lunch?
I actually love to do so many of the little details myself; I find huge pleasure in painting, arranging flowers and concocting little design details on the table. That said, if I could have a team like the brilliant Wild By Tart cater for me that would be a delight. I adore their seasonal, colourful, utterly delightful food. They present it beautifully and it tastes even better. Then a bar with mixologists serving ST~GERMAIN spritzes, salty margaritas and Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque, please! As for the venue, my top five would be:
- a Tim Walker-style candlelit woodland table in the woods near Slad in the Cotswolds
- a picnic with lots of parasols on a balmy summer's day on a quiet beach near St Mawe's in Cornwall (not revealing where I want it to stay quiet!)
- a lantern-festooned dinner at a long table on the ramparts Ranthambore Fort looking out over the tiger territory of the park
- a dinner in the Alice in Wonderland-worthy gardens of Villa Palladio, Jaipur
- a long lunch by the pool of the Art Deco pink paradise that is Rajmahal palace, Jaipur
(above) The Stevie Parasol Shop Now
Follow @Rosannafalconer on Instagram and visit her website.
Photo credits: George Ryan and Marcus Dawes