Get the Look: Quirky, White-on-White Tabletop Design

Designers David Nicolay and Rob Edmonds of Evoke created a tabletop design to spark conversation.

This quirky dining space, created for last year’s Dinner by Design event, was all about reducing the distractions of dining: designers David Nicolay and Rob Edmonds of Evoke painted thrift-store finds white and paired them with monochromatic place settings. The result is a textural white-on-white palette that calms the eclectic centrepiece and allows dinner conversation to take centre stage. Here’s how to get the look at home.Create a centrepiece that breaks from the norm. Here, Evoke opted for steins, vintage toys and an eclectic mix of candle holders. Painted one colour, they provide background texture—and are great conversation starters.Play with opacity. Much of the setting here is created by opaque white objects, but the half-dyed wineglasses give the effect of colour-blocking where no colour exists. Glass can be your accent “colour” in a monochromatic setting.Embrace a single colour. In this case, the all-white backdrop allows the food to take centre stage as it arrives. “White’s such a refreshing palette,” says Nicolay. “As restaurants have been getting darker, we’ve been pushing them to get lighter and brighter again.”