Our Executive Creative Director’s Holiday Table Skips the Red and Green Clichés

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Kate Berry, Domino’s executive creative director, has never been afraid of color, and decorating for the holidays is no exception. Her annual Christmas tree is a departure from the expected red and green palette and instead incorporates different shades of pink, turquoise, and aquamarine. “Pastels bring out a fun, fresh look,” she says. And this season, that “basically all spilled on the table.” 

Grab Things From Around the House

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Outside of the Christmas tree and its requisite ornaments—iridescent balls, gilded pine cones, and a metallic wise man or two—Berry has never been a big fan of holiday-specific decorations. So when it comes to setting the table for Christmas dinner, “I use what I have”—namely her ordinary, everyday dinnerware and a few unexpected household items (bedding, produce). The real key to a festive spread is to turn up the contrast in color, pattern, and shape and not rely on clichéd snowflake or holly prints, she says: “It all comes together because of the mix.” 

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Create a Strong Foundation

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The first step is setting down a tablecloth, preferably in an interesting pattern. “Nothing has to match if you have a strong backdrop to anchor everything together,” explains Berry. This year she used a cotton blanket by Calvin Klein, attracted to its red and off-white star motif reminiscent of a classic American quilt. Because it is thin, glasses and centerpieces can sit flat on top; it’s also machine washable and irons easily. “Since it’s so graphic and fun,” she says, “whatever you put on it feels very contemporary and playful.” 

Mix and Match

With an overall palette dominated by pastels, Berry emphasized the variety of shades through the place settings. “For the plates, we used a pink set that you can mix and match with other colors,” she says. She also chose two types of glassware: handblown aqua drinking glasses and heavier, kitschy blue wine goblets, embellished with diamond facets that catch the light.

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Get Sculptural

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Berry piled the table high with citrus from her mother’s garden in California, alongside fresh foliage from her own garden at home. Gold flatware brings warmth and matches the shine of the ornaments. And as an ad hoc cake stand, she stacked a plate on top of an upside-down bowl for a little difference in height, rather than leave everything flat on the table.  

“Playing around with your everyday tabletop to give it new life or make a new shape is fun,” says Berry. “Besides the ornaments, there’s nothing on the table that I wouldn’t have year-round.”