Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
VINTAGE VALUES
Give old china a modern spin with new accessories and contemporary fabrics
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Hillwood and her other estates, which include Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, now owned by US President Donald Trump. If there was one lesson to be learned from Post, it was not to be afraid of your nice things, says Estella Chung, director of collections at Hillwood, the estate that Post bought in 1955.
Every few weeks she would host a formal dinner, garden party or tea, pulling out her silver lobster forks, 18th-century Russian goblets and gold jelly spoons.
“Her house was the American version of a European country house, and she knew that style of entertaining and staffing was coming to an end.” All her dishes were always washed by hand.
In this exhibit, Post’s tableware is displayed from a formal dinner featuring seven Russian services in the dining room to a breakfast tray with violet-sprigged dishes in her bedroom.
“In this exhibition, we wanted to present pieces in a new way and show this is relevant to contemporary life,” says Wilfried Zeisler, Hillwood’s chief curator.
We asked the designers behind the exhibit to help people find ways to incorporate old china into a less formal lifestyle.
Don’t set table like grandma did
New York designer Alex Papachristidis says: “Play with what you have. If you have antique dishes, find a bold coloured solid dish that looks nice with it and some funky modern flatware. Throw in an unusual hand-painted glass from a vintage store.”
Use something unexpected, such as a leopard-print tablecloth.
Never set table same way twice
Designer Barry Dixon says if you’re not having fun setting your table, it becomes just another chore.
Accessorise a table as you do your wardrobe. Whether you are using basic white buffet plates or your mother-in-law’s vintage pink-andbrown Noritake, give them a new look by adding colour or pattern elsewhere on the table.
If you have old-fashioned floral china, add glass plates in jewel tones to update the table. Instead of white napkins, collect linen squares in different colours.
Put the china in the dishwasher
Designer Timothy Corrigan kept hearing from clients that they used their best china only on holidays because it was so much work to hand-wash it. Corrigan loads his family and vintage porcelain collection into the dishwasher – many have a special, gentler “china” setting. “Every day is special,” he says. “Use your china... Today is the day.”
A French antique porcelain dealer gave him statistics that might calm those worried about dulling the gold trim on their plates: most gold on china can withstand 600 to 800 dishwasher washes before really fading.
He also puts his antique German sterling cutlery in the dishwasher, saying that “using it all the time keeps it looking good, and you don’t have to polish it.” Only wash fragile crystal by hand.
Revive Sunday family dinner
New York designer Charlotte
Moss is distressed that many families rarely eat dinner together at a table set for a meal.“End your weekend and start your week with a bit of civilization,” she says. Everyone helps, and children can learn basic table-setting skills and manners.
“Whether your china is your grandmother’s formal porcelain or your mother’s cast-offs, use it. Don’t be afraid.”
Don’t worry about fancy food
Some people fear entertaining because they don’t enjoy cooking. Hutton Wilkinson, president of Los Angeles-based Tony Duquette says: “It’s really about the presentation, but it helps if the food tastes good.”
Washington designer Josh Hildreth says a table set with your best things shows family and friends how much you appreciate them.
Wilkinson says people meet in restaurants because they are too busy to cook. There are alternatives, and he tells of a glamorous hostess who sent out for buckets of KFC and piled it on to her Georgian silver platters. “It’s all about the presentation.”
Don’t use plain white tablecloths
Designer P Gaye Tapp says people should bring out the old china and match it to a modern textile pattern. You can pick out colours in your china and look for fabric to set it off. – Washington Post