Charleston
Inspired by the lush gardens and romantic landscape of Charleston, South Carolina, de Gournay is proud to introduce a new design within its Chinoiserie collection, ‘Charleston’. Flourishing with the blooming azaleas and roses, palmetto palms, dogwood, and paper plants all native to the city, decorative iron gates and fountains further pay homage to the locale’s distinctly charming character. Painted at a large-scale to fully immerse the viewer, one spots stately blue herons, Northern Cardinals, and Eastern Bluebirds dotted throughout the scene.
The design launch culminated with an enchanting dinner at the William C. Gatewood house, the elegant 1840s Greek Revival home of Sarah and Ozey K. Horton nestled within Charleston’s historic South of Broad neighbourhood. Hosted in collaboration with Gregory Blake Sams Events, an exuberant table was set within the garden’s vine-covered courtyard to toast the Charleston design community.
Brimming with the birds, flowers, and butterflies native to Charleston, the table featured a bespoke rendition of our classic hand-painted ‘Flora and Fauna’ porcelain.
Using centuries-old techniques, each piece within a de Gournay porcelain dinner service is hand-thrown, fired, and then hand-painted, serving as a rare expression of an ancient craft surviving almost unchanged into the 21st century.
The central design on every plate within this bespoke ‘Flora and Fauna’ service features a distinct species native to Charleston, borrowing the beautiful images of birds from 19th century artists such as John Gould and John James Audubon. Painstakingly hand-painted reproductions of the Carolina Wren, American Goldfinch, and Indigo Bunting fly and swoop inside rims decorated with garlands of peonies, leaves, and gold gilt. The salad plates further delight with colourful renderings of local butterflies and flowers, such as the Tiger Swallowtail and Gulf Fritillary, and azalea and magnolia blossoms.
Hand-painted by de Gournay’s team of artists, a fine linen tablecloth with dramatic palmetto palms and paper plant branches continued the ‘Charleston’ theme. The magnificent tablescape came to life with bespoke hand-embroidered and hand-painted dinner napkins and floral arrangements by Sara York Grimshaw. In the true spirit of Southern hospitality, the waitstaff, donning hand-painted jackets and waistcoats,, graciously tended over the hand-painted bar while the mint juleps flowed long into the night.