A Dartmoor Christmas with Feldspar Founder, Cath Brown
Cath Brown co-founded Feldspar with her husband Jeremy after the family swapped London for the wilds of Dartmoor in 2015. Inspired by the objects their grandparents used every day – pieces fifty or even 300 years old and still serving their purpose perfectly – they began making their own beautiful essentials. The first was a coffee mug with a gently wonky profile to sit perfectly in the hand, finished with a hand-painted cobalt blue handle that echoes the palette of classic chinaware.
Today Feldspar is a family-run design brand creating ‘objects for life’ – beautiful things made properly, and made to last, by the careful hands of talented craftspeople. Using endangered heritage processes, its fine bone china is handmade and hand-painted at the workshops in Devon, with a simple, elegant aesthetic designed to weather the trends and sit happily in any interior. Find Feldspar on instagram here
How do you set the scene for a festive gathering? Walk us through your signature Christmas table styling.
The first thing I always think about is lighting, partly because I am obsessed with ‘mood’ lighting, and partly because when you make all your own tableware that side of things doesn’t need much thought. Apart from particular dishes that might need a certain sized plate or bowl, I think more about lighting and how to create the kind of atmosphere you’re going for, so candles feature heavily at Christmas time. Our tapered beeswax candles in our candlesticks are always dotted down the table, and we always have one of our fruit bowls piled high with nuts, sitting beside our walnut and brass nutcracker in front of the fire.
At this time of year, bringing the outside in feels essential. How do you integrate natural elements into your Christmas decor?
I like to forage greenery from the garden – little sprigs of fir or holly and larger branches of anything that’s looking particularly colourful. I have strings of dried oranges tied with velvet ribbons, and I always put a little greenery atop all the pictures on the walls. It’s something my Mum always does, and the house doesn’t really feel Christmassy without it somehow.
Scent has a powerful link to memory and mood. What is your absolute favourite olfactory moment during the festive season?
Citrus! I always make decorations out of oranges with the kids – we score them and then bake them on a low heat until they’re dried out, and then we dot them around the house. They smell so lovely – warming and fresh at the same time. These, combined with the smell of an open fire, take me straight back to sitting under a Christmas tree, sorting excitedly through the presents with my brothers.
VERDEN’s Festivum Scented Candle captures a joyful, seasonal blend of warming woods and spices. What makes this scent resonate with you at Christmas? Where and when do you burn it?
It is such a delicious scent – warming and spiced without being sweet and cloying like most festive candles. I like to burn Festivum in our hallway, so the scent travels up the stairs and fills the whole house!
Which VERDEN piece are you gifting this year, and who are the lucky recipients?
The Arborealist Wash and Balm Set for my Mum. I find it’s such a good idea to gift something that is useful and beautiful, and that you might not necessarily buy for yourself – a real treat.
How do you create a sense of sanctuary during the busy holiday period? What does your ideal festive evening wind-down look like?
I have a long hot bath every night, and in the winter I like to dot candles around the bathroom to make it extra cosy. My only requirements are that it needs to be piping hot, filled with bubbles, and I need to have a book to read in it.
How do you style your entryway to welcome guests the second they step out of the cold?
We’ve just moved house, and for the first time we have stairs with a bannister. That may sound so simple, but it’s giving me huge joy, as I grew up with festive greenery winding up the stairs and can finally do it here! I have only lamps in the hallway so it’s instantly cosier, and a Festivum candle burning on the sideboard to scent the whole house.
How do you approach sustainable decorating without compromising on aesthetic impact?
It’s just something we automatically do. With Feldspar we always try to tread lightly and only create things we feel deserve a place in the world – everything we make is considered, and takes time and actual human hands to produce. At Christmas we follow the same sentiment: we use oranges as decorations, greenery from the garden, and dried flower strings and paper chains that were made years ago and still come out every Christmas.
In three words, how would you describe the atmosphere you strive to create in your home during the holiday season?
Cosy, warm, inviting.
