A Toast to the Season

There is nothing quite like New York during the holidays. The city is awash with glittering lights, dazzling window displays and decorations, and incomparable magic. To help usher in the season, we invited the design community and our wonderful clientele to our Park Avenue showroom for holiday cocktails and “A Toast to the Season”. This celebratory event featured the imaginative work of designers and tastemakers Carol Vargo, Michael Simon, Timothy Corrigan, Elizabeth Bolognino, and Caroline Gidiere.

E. Braun collaborated with these talented designers to create wonderful holiday tablescapes. The designers selected table linens from our extensive product line to uniquely complement their inspired choice of tableware and accessories for this delightful event.

For her “Ladies Who Lunch” table, Carol Vargo of Gray Antiques created an intimate holiday lunch in a home filled with rare antiques where every detail has been carefully considered from the flowers and the menu to the table setting itself. Our CRISTAL PALACE linen tablecloth and napkins with gold embroidery worked beautifully with Vargo’s thoughtfully selected hand painted English Ironstone plates, vintage French crystal, and gleaming silver serving pieces.

The “Quartet” tablescape by Michael Simon Interiors featured an eclectic mix of French, German, Danish, and Japanese dinnerware set atop our CARRES MAGIQUES tablecloth accompanied by PETITS PAPIERS napkins. The selection of stemware, dinnerware, and silver is reflective of the orchestral harmony the esteemed composers invited to this dinner party created in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Designer Timothy Corrigan noted that his “Dining with Marcel Proust” table was inspired by his esteem for the writer and entertaining at his home the Chateau de la Chevallerie. Here the casual ease of life in the countryside mixes with the French flair for design. Gold-rimmed porcelain dinnerware evokes the treillage of French garden pavilions and is mixed with Bamboo flatware, and channeled glassware. The FEUILLAGE table linens were designed by Timothy Corrigan for Dea and feature a playful pattern of falling leaves on the embroidered linen tablecloth and napkins and jacquard woven underskirt.

Elizabeth Bolognino Interiors crafted a festive tablescape with a holiday citrus theme where warm hues set the scene for coziness and camaraderie with bright fruits lending an exciting flair as seen in our CITRON & ORANGE linen napkins. Our ASPEN placemats with lurex embroidery offer a glittering backdrop for the russet and gold tableware and shining silverware placed on her “Cinnamon Citrus Cena” table.

“A Holiday Ode to Classic Elegance” by Caroline Gidiere Design is set with our ROMEO RED embroidered linen placemats and napkins. Gidiere wanted to create a vibrant palette to enhance the timeless beauty of the tableware. The table invites guests into a warm, luxurious room filled with festive cheer and a deep sense of tradition using elements that are not necessarily holiday to set a decidedly Holiday table.

 We hope that this inspires you to set a festive holiday table that will bring comfort and joy to you and the guests who grace your table. We would like to thank all the designers and the companies from which the beautiful tableware and decorative items were sourced. For a complete list of sources, please contact us directly.

Photography © 2024 Elizabeth O. Baker Photography