Helene Blanche X Royal Copenhagen

“Flowers evoke emotions and reveal stories, and Royal Copenhagen tells stories from the world of flowers with brush strokes on porcelain. The creative minds behind this year’s Christmas Tables use their talents and favourite materials to give the audience an extraordinary experience of personal tales of creative intuition and passion,” says Niels Bastrup, Creative Director at Royal Copenhagen. 

In 2018 Helene Blanche was invited along with six creative profiles to create enchanting Christmas Tables, a classic Royal Copenhagen Christmas tradition, each interpreting that year’s theme: A tribute to the flowering universe of Royal Copenhagen. An opportunity for Helene to express her utmost respect and admiration for Royal Copenhagen’s rich history, beautiful traditions and impeccable craftsmanship and while honourable dedicating the final piece to her beloved grandmother.

“My Christmas is synonymous with love, warmth, gratitude, and reflection – it’s a time when my thoughts centre on my Swedish grandmother, who has been my artistic and aesthetic source of inspiration since I was a child”, says Helene Blanche, who spent her summers and Christmas holidays with her grandmother. It’s in this childhood fantasyland on Anemonevej that Helene’s imagination ran wild and the flowering garden created the perfect poetic frame to enter Helene’s Christmas universe: An atmospheric tent that touched all senses, where focus was turned inwards, and where love had plenty of space to unfold. 

For her Christmas Table, Helene created a tent which, on the outside, was covered in her fabric design, Painted Stripe in Orange-Noir, and on the inside, was lined with a floral Rubelli textile from the 20th century. A soft layer of green leaves created the foundation for a wonderful mix of Christmas porcelains, including Blue and Purple Fluted Full Lace, platters, figurines and the Art Deco-inspired Dagmar dinner service, designed by Thorkild Olsen in 1938 for Royal Copenhagen. The tent was decorated with Helene’s hand-painted silk cornets, grandmother’s biscuits and lots of flowers. Everything was kept in a warm palette of reds, greens, yellows, oranges and black.