Recently, I had the pleasure of curating a workshop on Entertaining Your Guests for the Hanami Festival and the Art of Furoshiki at Hello Guppy.
In Japan, spring is welcomed with the bloom of beautiful cherry blossoms and people organize parties to view the blossoms & celebrate the spring. Keeping this in mind, the workshop showcased two styles of parties at home.
Hanami Brunch Table Styling
Brunch is always a laidback, easy way to get friends together and have a great time. To celebrate Hanami, first think of Spring Colours – pinks, peaches and reds, with some yellow & green accents. The cherry blossom is at the heart of decor here, so you can lay down your buffet table under the awning of a cherry blossom faux tree, or just petals made out of paper strewn across – think out of the box!
Choose an interesting table cloth & use gift boxes or cardboard boxes from online shopping sites to create levels. The levels make it easier to demarcate food – the lower level closer to the edge of the table can have your appetizers and salads and the upper level can have the mains. Let the colours influence your choice of cutlery & flatware as well – it’ll add to the vibe beautifully!
Your cherry blossoms are the star of the party so create a photo op corner for guests and friends to pose in front of them and give a Polaroid for instant gratification. Quick and Insta-friendly!
Hanami Dinner Table Styling
A more formal take on the Hanami Party and perfect for an intimate group, the Sit-Down Table Styling is great for free-flowing conversations & experiencing fine dining, course by course.
Japan is known for its organic, zen-like aesthetics – play those up by using straw mats, earthenware & precise flower arrangements. Create personalized menus and placeholders with a little DIY – menus can be detailed out on chart paper cut to resemble fans, and parasols made of paper doilies can be created with guests’ names on it and placed within individual bus cases for that added quirk effect.
Be creative with your favours – customise cherry blossom cupcakes (Hello Guppy did a fabulous job of it!) and wrap them up in Furoshiki.
The Art of Furoshiki
Originating in the 1200s, Furoshiki is the art of wrapping fabric creatively to protect one’s belongings. A direct translation of the word is “Bath Mat” and the Japanese used to tie their belongings distinctively when they visited bath houses so as to easily identify! Today, it’s a stylish and sustainable way to gift.
Traditionally, both the colour and the printed design on the furoshiki is meaningful, so it’s important to choose the correct cloth for the occasion.
For instance, during festive seasons, use bright and colourful fabrics, whereas for casual gifting you can use textures, small prints or even ombré fabrics.
Sizes
For wrapping, the object should be approximately one-third of the Furoshiki’s diagonal line and there are some traditional sizes that tend to work well for a range of objects.
50 cm – small book
70 cm – T-shirt
90 cm – a bottle of wine
A traditional Furoshiki cloth is not square, however for all practical reasons, it should do just fine.
I’d love to see your take on Hanami & Furoshiki – tag us at @jasminejhaveridesignstudio on Instagram & Facebook.