Entertain Fair Trade, Volume 2: Singing the Blues

Welcome to another installment of Entertaining Fair Trade, my chance to showcase the lovely items sold at Ten Thousand Villages along with some of my own pieces.  Please visit my previous posting, A Colorful World, to learn more about the store and their mission to support artisans from developing countries around the world.  I had been working on this tablescape...

in my mind for weeks and weeks, admiring the new items that had been added to the Blue and White collection, mentally pairing them with pieces already in my collection.  Oh...the picture I had in my mind was stunning.  I just could not wait to actually set this table!  Although the store sells a number of tablecloths in the blue family,

I chose this hand screened Springtime Floral cloth, made in India.  The main body of the cloth is cream, covered with paisley, flowers and leaves, while the pattern is concentrated at the border along with bold cobalt stripes.

I've dressed up the matching napkins with these "PEACE" silver napkin rings.  The Blue and White collection at Ten Thousand Villages includes many hand painted pieces from Vietnam.  A little background from a quick internet search..In Vietnam, the use of cobalt blue underglaze for decoration on porcelain began during the 14th century and this traditional style of ceramics is still being produced by artisans today. What I really hoped to accomplish with this tablescape was to blend the traditional with the modern.

Several years ago, I discovered these cobalt and white salad plates at Pottery Barn.  The pattern, Something Blue, with birds and botanicals, is exaggerated and bold, yet hints at traditional Asian porcelain as its inspiration. Equally modern and fresh, yet keeping with the color scene, these hand painted Dots dinner plates from West Elm, with their whimsical blue dotted rims, tie all of the pieces together.

I hope you agree that this eclectic combination of traditional Vietnamese porcelain and modern blue and white dinnerware not only works, but is gorgeous.  At Ten Thousand Villages, blue and white times are often shown paired with rich brown wood...

therefore I chose these deep brown woven chargers from my own collection to accent the cobalt and white pieces.  This adorable Shesham Butterfly Box from India would be a perfect little party favor for a special dinner guest.

Or...I think it could be cleverly repurposed as a salt cellar on the table.  This vase, with an unknown history, is part of my own collection.

Thank you to the folks at Trader Joe's for having cobalt blue and white flowers for me...you must have read my mind!

I like the way the gold and blue stems of my wine glasses pick up the colors in the vase.  Also from my own collection are these optic water goblets, with a touch of cobalt blue in the stems.  I also selected several tabletop accessories, again pieces from the Blue and White collection at Ten Thousand Villages.

Influenced by Ming China, this Floral Sugar and Creamer set fits snugly together inside of a bamboo basket.  Made at the same studio in a village near Hanoi...

these pretty Flowering Tea Lights add a special touch that only candlelight can do.

For interest, each one is carefully painted with a different pattern.

To tie this table together, I have woven this Showers of Flowers garland throughout my tabletop.  Made in Bangladesh from paper and palms leaves...

this darling garland will be decorating many more of my tablescapes.  I just could not be happier with this table setting and had so much fun putting it together.

Please visit Ten Thousand Villages' website to learn so much more about the products I have featured today.