Bringing Spring to Life Inside Your Home
Here in New England, spring can feel like a fleeting season. It often teases us with a false start and the promise of warmer days, only to be dismissed by a late March snowstorm. One way to ensure you feel the warm embrace of an early spring is to bring it into your home and surround yourself with its colors and textures as your wait for winter to finally release its icy grip.
Decorating my home and my table with the flavors of the season to host friends for a cocktail party or a meal brings me joy all year long and spring is no exception. Our eclectic collection of plates, glassware and tabletop accessories is always changing and growing. Each tells a story, whether it’s an heirloom passed down through the family, a memento from a trip, or a find from a local artist, they are all unique in their own way.
Whatever is gracing the tabletop is usually inspired by the gifts that nature offers and becomes a table scape with fresh flowers, plants, greens or branches, depending on what speaks to the season. For early spring that means orchids and ferns. After a winter of cold and grey, lush green ferns around the house are easy, long lasting, and welcome.
For a touch of both whimsy and glamour, if you don’t already know David Wilson, you need to. He’s a local artist with a garden vibe that I love. Wilson creates his work out of his home studio in Bloomfield. He does not consider himself a “traditional” potter, but a ceramic artist who believes in making art we can use in our daily lives. David is best known for the rabbits that are a recurring theme in his work, along with pigs, flying pigs, chickens, and other various animals. Aside from the influences he gleans from nature, his work is also inspired by vintage kitchenware, fabric patterns, textures in textiles, and even architectural designs.
The fresh colors and textures in Wilson’s pottery are the perfect spring addition to anyone’s home. Here I use his salad plates atop vintage Lenox china that I picked up from an estate sale. Wilson’s petite bowls can be used for fresh fruit, but I filled them with fern plants that will be given as gifts to my guests because I love sending something home with them as a memento from our visit. The spring woods centerpiece couldn’t be easier. Based on Wilson’s serving plate of wood grain, I arranged a variety of fern plants and miniature orchids. The plastic fern containers are disguised with moss and bulbs that are just beginning to force.
Wilson has an admirable work philosophy “My work is intended to bring joy, humor and delight to your everyday life,” he says. “When you engage with a cup of tea or coffee in one of my cups, I just hope you unexpectedly smile and momentarily forget about all of the grown-up and ‘important’ things we are constantly doing.”
We can find a special occasion on a random evening, even if it’s a just a pizza night. It tastes so much better on some pretty plates and with a beautiful centerpiece that will remind us to be grateful for the moment
