Having spent most of December entertaining our dining table has been full of laughter as well as plenty of food and drink!
I love entertaining in my home so having an open plan kitchen. living and dining room works perfectly. Open plan living started to gain popularity in house design in the 1970’s along with cheese fondue suppers, steak Diane and Black Forest gateaux served with a glass of Liebraumilch or hock wine- This was the start of the dinner party era.
Growing up in the eighties I remember the ‘special’ dinners my mum would cook to celebrate birthdays, the table would be set with a candle centrepiece, there was no candelabra but instead an empty Mateus Rose bottle enhanced by multicoloured dripping wax down the sides. The best cutlery would be out and wine glasses at each place setting.
Fast forward to last week and my mum has had a ‘clearout’ of glassware that she no longer wants and knowing how much I love to entertain deposited a box of items in the boot of my car. Opening the box I was transported back to my childhood, there was the green stemmed wine glasses that I thought were the height of sophistication as a seven year old, the Irish coffee glasses that my parents would have several attempts at trying to float cream on top of a whisky laden coffee and champagne saucers that snowballs were once served in.
After the nostalgia had passed I then noticed just how much smaller the glasses were than those that we Are used to today, the Hock glasses have a 0.10cl (100ml) marking- today a standard glass of wine is 175ml and a large glass 250ml- that’s just 3 glasses per bottle compared to the 7 of the 1970’s and 80’s!
This may seem a strange blog with regards to Interiors but when designing for a client these are the sort of things I need to consider- not everyone’s wine glasses are the same size but whatever the size I need to allow the correct storage space for them along with the plates and serve ware. I understand each client’s needs and desires are different and therefore spend time getting to know them before starting the design process- it’s so rewarding creating a space that suits my clients lifestyle- whether that includes entertaining or not!
