Dressing the Table

FORMULATED is the Tortuga Forma journal about the rituals we create around the home, the objects that bring us joy, and the stories behind how things are made.

How did we evolve as diners from Medieval revelers using the tablecloth as a communal napkin to creating elaborate table settings with layers of linens, chargers, and up to seven pieces of flatware? How did we shift from wiping our hands on dough like the Romans to mastering 25 different ways to fold a napkin? 

We take a style detour into the authoritative 1921 table-setting rulebook From The History of the Art of Tablesetting to see where our modern sensibilities do and don’t fit in the past:

The Luncheon Table.

The mats and runners will be white instead of colored, and the napkins with them of the conventional luncheon size, that is, fourteen to seventeen inches square. If a formal luncheon is served, a lace or embroidery-trimmed cloth which follows the shape of the table is often used. Napkins of the conventional luncheon size will, in this case, be decorated to match the cloth used.

The Dinner Table.

At dinner, the heavy damask cloth is preferred. It is usually unadorned save for the pattern in the linen itself or by one handsome monogram. The dinner cloth, to be quite correct, should always be rectangular, never round, no matter what the shape of the table. Dinner napkins are also of heavy damask, twenty-six to thirty-six inches square.

The Luncheon Table.

The mats and runners will be white instead of colored, and the napkins with them of the conventional luncheon size, that is, fourteen to seventeen inches square. If a formal luncheon is served, a lace or embroidery-trimmed cloth which follows the shape of the table is often used. Napkins of the conventional luncheon size will, in this case, be decorated to match the cloth used.

The Dinner Table.

At dinner, the heavy damask cloth is preferred. It is usually unadorned save for the pattern in the linen itself or by one handsome monogram. The dinner cloth, to be quite correct, should always be rectangular, never round, no matter what the shape of the table. Dinner napkins are also of heavy damask, twenty-six to thirty-six inches square.

A damask tablecloth with a lace cloth layered on top. Floris Claes Van Dyck, 1575
Table setting by Estrid Ericson, 1958.

The historian's love for damask, a fabric woven with intricate patterns, isn’t too different from our cotton shantung linens—both celebrate texture and design. Traditional damask is heavy and woven on jacquard looms, revealing a reverse weave on the other side. As for the strict rectangular-tablecloth rule? We’re happy to leave that in the past. With tables coming in every shape and size—just like the people gathering around them—proportions should be as flexible as the ways we celebrate.

While our table linens lean away from basics like the classic white tablecloth, we believe even the most traditional objects have room to evolve. A white-ish, modernized table linen is on our horizon for those who can't get enough white. And regardless whether table styles move towards the modern or traditional, sumptuous florals are the most timeless table adornment.

The historian's love for damask, a fabric woven with intricate patterns, isn’t too different from our cotton shantung linens—both celebrate texture and design. Traditional damask is heavy and woven on jacquard looms, revealing a reverse weave on the other side. As for the strict rectangular-tablecloth rule? We’re happy to leave that in the past. With tables coming in every shape and size—just like the people gathering around them—proportions should be as flexible as the ways we celebrate.

While our table linens lean away from basics like the classic white tablecloth, we believe even the most traditional objects have room to evolve. A white-ish, modernized table linen is on our horizon for those who can't get enough white. And regardless whether table styles move towards the modern or traditional, sumptuous florals are the most timeless table adornment.

The Nordiska Museet's permanent exhibition of table settings from the 16th century to the 1950s includes a stuffed swan centerpiece. Photo: Peter Segemark

We’re not ones for rigid rules, but we are intrigued by how historical norms compare to modern tastes.

See how we dress up the table. 

More from Home Rituals

  1. Dressing the Table

    How did we evolve as diners from Medieval revelers using the tablecloth as a communal napkin to creating elaborate table settings with layers of linens, chargers, and up to seven pieces of flatware? How did we shift from wiping our hands on dough like the Romans to mastering 25 different ways to fold a napkin? We take a style detour into history.

    Read more →

  2. Portfolio 02: Winter Quilt

    Part 2 of film images commissioned by Tortuga Forma. Helena Goñi approaches still objects as though they were human subjects. The objects look the camera directly in the eye without flinching. Other times, they hide themselves in the shadows of a cyanotype or within a domestic scene. 

     

    Read more →

  3. Bringing Color into a Minimalist Home

    Color and patterns brings immediate warmth into the home. It's easy to default to whites and beiges but there are ways to weave in joyful moments of color - even for the self described minimalist.
    Read more →