Art director and stylist Zeena Shah tells us about her favourite ways to get creative in the run up to Christmas.
“I just love Christmas: having everyone all together, and making the house look beautifully festive.
My husband [Zack McLaughlin] and I live in a small flat, but I think it’s important to transform whatever space you have.
Zack is incredible paper artist and illustrator with an amazing eye for detail, so Christmas at ours is very collaborative.
It gets us off our phones as well, which is a good thing.
MORE IS MORE!
Being a maximalist, I have hundreds of decorations.
Every year, I collect a new bauble, and I also make my own marbled baubles.
I’ll always do a set of them to give as presents every year so that everyone’s got a different one; it’s such a nice and inexpensive gift.
My mum always asks me to do the table – that’s my domain!
Choosing a colour scheme is a helpful way to start.
We did red and cream last year, and the year before was green and gold.
This year, I’m thinking of going with red and pink.
I’ll marble or illustrate the place name settings and menus, and I’m going to have a go at marbling some candles this year too.
Dried flower arrangements and foliage always looks good; my mum will go into the garden and come back with armfuls of eucalyptus and holly.
GET CRAFTY
My favourite quick Christmas make is a gift tag.
You can make a marbled one very easily using nail polish, water and some card.
If you have lots of guests coming round, attach the tags with ribbon to their wine glasses – it looks very sophisticated, and everyone will appreciate that you’ve gone to the effort of making something personalised.”
