Another year, another beautiful school charity luncheon. 2022 was my second year participating in this school event, and I was so glad to have the opportunity again to create floral and table designs for the luncheon. The goal was to raise money for the school library, so naturally everyone wanted to have a literary theme.
I love to read, widely and often, and sometimes in different languages. When I was younger, reading and visiting bookstores was part of the magic of traveling and living in different places around the world. For our own floral and table design though, we looked to our roots for inspiration.
Eileen Chang, born Zhang Ying (張煐), was a Chinese essayist, novelist, and screenwriter whose notable works portrayed life in 1940s Shanghai and Hong Kong. Like me, she was born in Shanghai.
There is so much we admired about Chang–her strength, her intelligence, her talent. The first colors that came to mind to represent her were emerald and gold. Those colors laid the foundation for our design. To honor her work, we decided to decorate in the style of a 1940s Chinese banquet. Props include gold fans and phonographs and Majiang. And, of course, beautiful books published in Chinese. We also added a custom invitation, printed with bilingual quotes from Chang’s novels, and a pendant bookmark.
For the floral design, we started with phalaenopsis orchids and branches of the Japanese maple tree. Both were usually used in a 1940s luxury banquet. I love how they arch over to gingerly drape large and faintly fragrant petals.
Some of the most well-known aspects of Chang’s writing were her use of colors and moods and how she highlighted the ordinary lives of people in wartime. So, to complement all the emerald and gold elements, we added white and yellow roses, blue delphinium, yellow ranunculus, purple and yellow mini carnations, olaya lace flower, and some purple and yellow stock.
I love how the table and flowers came out. Luxurious and bold, yet soft and delicate, celebrating the life and work of a Chinese author whose work helped inspire several generations of female writers.
What do you think of the decorations? Have you read some of Eileen Chang’s works before? Let me know in the comments below!
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