Three perfect hosts—curators, chefs, and florists—share their tips on lighting, tableware, decoration, etc.

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Ask any creative type about their entertainment philosophy, and their answer is almost always that their guests are the most important element of any meal. The rest-food, plates, glasses, music-in a sense are just dressings. However, this does not mean that they will not take these decorations seriously, at least to some extent. After all, if your work requires aesthetics, you may have an opinion about which lighting is the most popular, or whether to provide cooked food instead of cooked food. So, when they have friends over, what are the tried and tested practices that these people insist on? We asked three Los Angeles locals-Alex Tieghi-Walker, founder of gallery and design platform Tiwa Select; Saehee Cho, chef, stylist, and founder of gourmet subscription service Soon Mini; and Tabia, the flower shop of Bia Blooms Studio Yapp, who also runs the talent agency Beotis — shares their advice on creating a table as exciting as a company.

Unsurprisingly, Tieghi-Walker's approach is to prioritize unusual objects and textiles on and around the table. Cho uses the rich produce in her garden, and Yapp focuses her dinner on the lush floral arrangement. However, they all have one thing in common, that is, they like to use what they have and work with their environment (the film Sunset in Los Angeles, said Tiji Walker, may be the best backdrop for the party). More importantly, everyone is good at setting an attractive tone that at least makes people feel relaxed, allowing their guests to truly relax and enjoy themselves.

Last year, when Alex Tieghi-Walker moved from a cabin in the sequoia enclave of Berkeley, California, to a more spacious 1920s house on the hills of Echo Park in Los Angeles, the country was still in a state of tight Covid lockdown. Although he could not have friends over immediately, But the transition gave him the opportunity to re-evaluate his vast collection of furniture and design objects, from heirlooms and antique discoveries (mid-century Alvar Aalto stools, Toni chairs) to works of emerging talents such as New York artists Minjae Kim and Megumi Shauna Arai. Sell ​​these works through your own online gallery. These treasures have long been a source of comfort for guests at the lively and usually outdoor weekly dinners he organized before the pandemic: not only many works, including North Carolina's face-decorated ceramic cup potter Jim McDowell and Switzerland Artist Carmen D'Apollonio's hand-stitched napkins are fully functional and add personality to the dining table. Tieghi-Walker's new home encouraged him to look at his collection in a new light and try some unexpected combinations, especially when he was finally able to host a dinner party on his spacious jungle-like terrace.

However, before he even thought about what to put, he thought about lighting. "I actually rewire the lights to create the right atmosphere," he said. He recommends using warmer bulbs because they emit softer and more attractive light, and often use extension cords to adjust the height of the hanging lights, lowering them to create an atmosphere and help to bring newcomers together, no matter what Is it literally or figuratively. But he suggested that usually your best ally is natural light. "I really try to arrange dinner time so that we can go outside when the sun goes down," he said. This decision allows the party to switch naturally between day and night energy.

In order to create a laid-back atmosphere, Tieghi-Walker invites people to sit by themselves (in other words, there is no place card). When safety permits, he likes to cleverly fill the table with chairs and benches to force people to approach . Near his patio door, he put a basket of napkins and mismatched cutlery-his favorite piece is weathered Victorian knives and forks-from Etsy, eBay and Craigslist for people to grab on the way to the table. live. If the weather is cool in the evening, or if he is serving lunch at noon, he may also arrange a vintage poncho, blanket or sun hat for the guests. One constant, no matter the weather or time: expressive hand-painted ceramic plates-filled with simple dishes such as roast chicken and vegetables or quick-catch pasta-from the support organization Creative Growth in Oakland, California Artists with developmental disabilities. One of them is a portrait of smiling Sean Penn. "I like to get pleasure or a sense of humor from a meal," Tieghi-Walker said. "Most of life requires so much effort, but eating is a time when you should relax, so why overcomplicate it?"

Entertainment may be a chore for some chefs, but not for Saehee Cho, when she does not bake elegant custom cakes, interview other chefs for her newsletter or purchase products for her home delivery service on the farm At the time, Soon Mini hosted regularly. She said that changing the strategy to adapt to the size of the party is the key. For larger gatherings-she sometimes feeds up to 30 people during temporary events at Windrose Farm in Paso Robles, California, where she sets up long tables in the orchard-she recommends family-style meals , And use food and flowers for decoration to create a natural and simple sense of richness. Don't be afraid to keep the food itself simple. “Bigger groups are more fun, so I like to provide more dips and spreads, appetizers, cooked foods and cooked foods,” she said. "We just picked the radishes the other day, washed them, and ate them like rabbits. They are delicious. Even just a potato baked on an open flame with tin foil can be so delicious."

Cho tends to entertain small groups of four to six guests in her house, cooking Korean-style dishes and garnishing them with edible flowers and herbs-she recommends sprinkling with parsley, rosemary or thyme, if you have one ——From her backyard, her meals are always served on a simple picnic table. Her attitude towards food is comprehensive, and she takes into account the current season and the most accessible food. "I will think that I have extra stuff and try to avoid waste," she said. Fruits and vegetables close to the expiration date are given priority, and the inedible ones usually become table decorations. She recently tried an arrangement starring a sculptural trombone pumpkin planted by gardener Horace Cameron, sometimes adding flowers and dried vegetables, such as the brightly colored corn she dried in a hanging net on the back porch.

The food is a mix of Korean and Mexican ceramics-in 2019, Cho spent some time at the Pocoapoco creative residence in Oaxaca, Mexico, and admired the work of potters from the region. "I think every piece of tableware should have a story," she said. "It's not something you can create quickly. These are priceless works that represent a specific moment." Her collection includes her friend, Korean-American sculptor and potter Nancy Kwon (Nancy Kwon). )’S exquisite porcelain drinking fountain and footed rice bowl, and the cup of Oaxaca artist Rufina Lopez, which Zhao described as “a study of universal faces”. But most importantly, this is an element of natural chaos that defines her approach. "Everything is always a bit wild," she said. For example, she would not make formal arrangements in vases, but often scattered flowers in a bowl in the center of the table, as their scent drifted freely into the evening air, making it pleasant.

Tabia Yapp is both a talent agent and a florist, and she uses her wealth of skills to make connections. Whose art will be consistent with which gallery, which blooming will work with which leaves-these are her favorite puzzles. Therefore, she sees the meals she hosted at her home in Hollywood as opportunities for family and friends to gather together to share stories, experiences, knowledge and love. Recently, this exchange took the form of a "everything we missed" dinner. She hosted a dinner to commemorate several milestones-including the important birthdays of her grandmother and sisters, her brother's high school graduation and her own recent marriage- Her family was not unable to celebrate in person during the pandemic.

Yapp’s primary consideration is usually to create a floral center for the table, which she suggests as a collaborative effort. Inviting your friends or family members to help trim the stems and position the flowers will increase the fun of the party, at least to some extent, making it a collective effort that all of you can be proud of. She suggested that, first choose a palette that can complement your overall vision of the table, "then choose a focal flower that will be the star of your arrangement." From there, choose some additional and more surprising auxiliary flowers , They will help bring your design to life. "And be sure to cut the stems at different heights to give the flowers more personality," she said. In her recent family dinner, she gave priority to yellow because it was her grandmother's favorite color, matching yellow roses with tablecloths, golden chairs and white ceramic plates of the same hue.

For more informal meals, Yapp takes a more liberal approach. Plates, cutlery, and napkins do not need to be matched-in fact, unexpected combinations are usually preferable. In order to create texture, she chose different tones of tableware from the local rental store Casa De Perrin, design studio DEEP BLACK and East Fork pottery in North Carolina, offsetting these tableware with some miscellaneous tableware and serving bowls she collected . Years from a thrift store in Los Angeles. In order to further ensure that the food is not monotonous, Yapu and her husband like to play feng shui. "Our space is very small-about 1,000 square feet-so we figured out ways to change the layout of the furniture to create some different moments," she said. "We also found that our 20 kinds of indoor plants can add structure and in some way make our moderate space feel bigger." Create a green background for the dining table-Yapp especially likes to add her 7-foot-tall cactus and huge The monstera-can also make guests feel more comfortable, more comfortable, and most importantly, feel at home.