When your home is all decked out for Diwali with diyas and rangolis, why not bring the same festive feel to your dining table as well? Adity Chakravarti, a professional artist, author, lifestyle blogger and table stylist, shows us how.“I had set my heart on yellows and oranges of the marigold flowers for my table. But all I could find in markets were the humble garlands and loads of flower heads to be offered for puja. I went to these nurseries on a footpath near our house and there, tucked away in a corner, were marigold plants with their roots in soil mounds ready for planting, with some of their flowers in bloom,” she explains.
Adity picked them all up and brought them home. First, she spread an embroidered white runner on the polished mahogany table on which she arranged white tableware. The rich yellows and maroons of the marigolds and the deep greens of their foliage offset the whites beautifully. Twinkling tea lights on inverted wine glasses rounded off the festive landscape, adding just the right touch of shimmer and sparkle.
The wife of a retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Adity is known for creating unique tablescapes with everyday objects found around the house. Over a span of 30 years, she has lived in seven countries abroad, absorbing and learning from their cultures. In her role as the spouse of a diplomat, she has taken special interest in styling tables for the innumerable sit-down meals and buffets that her husband’s job entailed.