Svetlana Sabry — interior decorator and wardrobe stylist. Representative of several French decor brands in Ukraine. He has been engaged in interior decoration for more than 18 years. She studied in France - in Paris and Lyon. The author of the online course on serving and decorating the table "Around the Table" and the founder of the school of decorating and serving SvSabri decoration. Co-host and designer of the TV project "Time to Build".
Svetlana Sabry
While still studying in French decoration schools, I never got tired of being amazed at how French decorators are able to combine incompatible textures and materials. And how badly they violate the rules that they themselves teach in their schools. How easily they manage to assemble a complete picture, a complete and concise composition from the details. It is similar to their language - melodious and pleasing to the ear, and at the same time difficult to read and spell. The usual number 98 - we understand it as 90 and 8, and for the French it is "quatre-vingt-dix-huit", "four-times-twenty-ten-eight"!
Table setting in France is also an art, art de la table. And they skillfully use their art in life. Ordinary family or friendly dinners are filled with a certain atmosphere, without pathos and pomposity - a special careless French chic.
If you think that on the festive table the tablecloth should be perfectly ironed, porcelain plates and crystal glasses lined up, then you are very mistaken. Lovers of art de vivre know how to combine objects with history: earthenware plates with thin strands of craquelure on the glaze, like wrinkles under the eyes, given by grandmother or bought at a flea market, with perfect and ideal silver cutlery; crystal glasses from the French cristallerie, founded 400 years ago, with modern plates or rough glass glasses for water.
Ancient cotton napkins with embroidery and the size of the standard of the century before last, which covered the entire magnificent outfit from the neck to the knees, will be perfectly combined with a train for the table made of "torn washed" linen. And, of course, a coupe-shaped glass, which is considered not the most suitable for good champagne, will look elegant and very romantic, despite the fact that it may differ from its other brothers in height, since it has been restored several times by a glassmaker.
This serving is a classic combination of two complementary colors: purple and yellow, their shades. Vintage glasses for wine and modern glass for water, linen softened textiles, flat plates, vintage stands for envelope cards, on which at home parties it is not necessary to write names, but you can simply leave pleasant messages
Functional little things give the service a special atmosphere, warmth and tenderness: crystal port-cuto, vintage metal bottle holders in the role of pie plates, napkin rings with a pearl flower
Moroccan tea glass as a variant of an individual mini-vase for one flower. And in the table setting there is a combination of vintage napkin rings, slightly worn port-cuto with modern earthenware with archival drawings. Carved crystal and colored glass, silver-plated dishes - the textures of these objects create a more festive atmosphere, reflecting the sun's rays or the flame of candles in the evening
Monochrome in the servings will add a bit of rigor and formality. It is softened by vintage odd-numbered port-cutos, carved coupe-shaped crystal champagne glasses and vintage napkin rings with missing crystal petals
This serving can be called "Very French". French faience, French crystal, port-cuto invented by the French and the French variant of tableware serving
It is desirable to add bright accents to dishes in achromatic shades. Pay attention to the vintage serving item - port-kuto (from French - a knife stand) - a silver-plated duck that will save your tablecloth from stains
Monochrome openwork earthenware plates are perfectly combined with colored crystal and a port-cuto made of transparent crystal, emphasizing the solemnity of the service
A vintage plate from the "Cashmere" collection in a duet with a modern main plate made of "frozen" glass - a combination of modernity and an object with a family history. As in the case of glasses: colored bright crystal glass and vintage crystal
The crystal jug with a silver-plated top was originally created for wine, rather, home-made, but today we can use it for serving not for its intended purpose, but for lemonades or water with rosemary and cucumber, mint and lemon... It is also good as a vase
The ability to emphasize the beauty of the imperfect, to combine and marry old objects with ultra-modern ones, to enjoy aged cheese, drinking young wine and sitting on a transparent plastic chair at a worn wooden table 60x60 cm — this is art de vivre, the art of living, appreciating and enjoying the moment.
