How to Add Drama to the Dinner Table

Want your tablescape to stand out? Try moody blue and black for your dinnerware.

The past weekend, I spent a couple of nights at Monogram Dinner by Design—and besides being completely blown away by what our local design community can build in a short 24 hours (we’re talking entire rooms filled with art and dramatic lighting installations), I also came away with more than a few ideas for my next dinner party.I’ve always been attracted to white plates—a clean palette to show off your food!—but with the right recipe, black dishes can be stunning (as I discovered from DesignLaB Interiors’ birds’ nest of a tablescape at this year’s DxD). Royal Copenhagen offers a gorgeous, richly pigmented set of both black—or perhaps even better—deep blue dish sets in their Fluted collection. As the days get shorter, these dishes will look even prettier by candlelight. (It is soup season, after all.)Fluted collection by Royal Copenhagen, pieces from $60, available in Vancouver at Atkinson’s, atkinsonsofvancouver.com; in Victoria at Homebody Interiors, homebodyinterios.ca; and in Edmonton at Gift Connection.