Season’s greetings from The Modern House! The holiday period calls for joyous convivial dining – and so this year, we’re saying best wishes to you with a beautiful tablescape by Kasia Borowiecka. We invited the florist to create a display fit for feasting and festive frolics alike, featuring seasonal stems and ingredients – from clementines and nuts to purple grapes and white cyclamen. After completing her arrangement, we catch up with Kasia about the art of her craft and finding inspiration in ikebana, plus she shares her five tips for tablescaping.

Having grown up in rural Poland, Kasia’s love of nature stems back to her childhood. “My grandfather had a beautiful garden, where he grew sweet peas and had a big apple tree,” she says. Her mother, meanwhile, was a pharmacist and would teach Kasia about the beauty of botanicals by taking her foraging. “I would learn the names of different leaves and flowers. That really stuck with me.” Although life took a grown-up Kasia, who now lives in Croydon, south London, in a different direction (she previously worked in social services), her love of blooms continued to blossom. She decided to hone her green fingers at a floristry course – but owes her career change to Instagram, where she discovered a more contemporary form of arranging. “It had been taken to the next level,” she says. “That inspired me to go for it.”

In particular, it was the ancient Japanese art of ikebana that caught her eye. The deceptively simple way of flower arranging champions a less-is-more approach, using fewer elements than floristry in the West. “It felt so different to anything I had seen in the western world,” she says. “It might look easy, but it’s actually very complex and requires studying. It’s a fascinating subject.” The most interesting thing that Kasia has learned? “The importance of negative space. It’s called ma in Japanese culture and allows you to pause, observe and reflect.”

But, as Kasia’s followers – who might know her better as @cosmosandplums – will attest, it’s not all about blooms. She’s also known for artfully curating fruit and vegetables. During the pandemic in 2021, she and her photographer friend, Olivia Bennett, launched Frukebana, the ikebana-inspired business from which they run online arranging and still-life drawing workshops – often using fruit and vegetables as inspiration. It was important to them that they were able to champion things that were widely accessible, inviting attendees to play with the food they have at home, from potatoes and onions to oranges and bananas. “Also the ingredients don’t go to waste, because you can eat them after the arrangement,” Kasia points out.

When it came to our tablescape, Kasia sourced ingredients that feel the right amount of festive. The white cyclamen, for instance, is currently in season and readily available at most grocery stores and garden centres. “Once you cut the flowers, you can plant the rest of the white cyclamen in your garden or in a pot for your patio or balcony and enjoy it for years to come.” There’s also the orangey smell of clementines and the barren branches bar a few berries. “When you go for a walk, you can just cut a few stems from the trees and incorporate that into your tablescape.” She’s got us in the festive mood – is Kasia ready for the holidays too, we ask? She’s been busy, she replies, but is excited to decorate the house she shares with her husband. If it’s anything like this, we have a feeling it’s going to look great.

Kasia’s top tips for wintry tablescaping

Less is more
“You don’t need a lot to make a beautiful tablescape. When you can showcase the simple beauty of your materials, you appreciate them more. It’s also less wasteful and easier to reuse the ingredients.”

Make a visual impact with groupings
“Using the same ingredient together is more impactful than using lots of different materials. If you look outside at nature, you will see that most things grow in groups; almost nothing grows alone.”

Be inspired by the stillness of winter
“What do you see outside? A really beautiful material that grows in winter is old man’s beard. It’s fluffy and replicates the look of snow and has a feeling of cosiness. It’s important to use seasonal flowers and plants.”

Build fruit sculptures
“It’s a lot of fun to create totems with fruit, using wire or branches. Not only is it something different, but it’s a great activity to do with friends and family – particularly if you have small children. And spending time together is what the holidays are all about.”

Look to ikebana
“Ikebana encourages you to find materials outside. There’s so much beauty in that because each branch or stem you find outside will be different. Some won’t be perfect and I think there’s a real beauty in that.”