Autumn is the crisp morning air and golden sun that lingers with remnants of warmth. It’s the rustle of leaves as they float off branches and crunch beneath our feet. Autumn beckons us indoors, where we are drawn to the quiet rituals that fill these months. To the flicker of candlelight and nestling under knit blankets, reading by the window, puzzle-making by the fire or getting lost in the kitchen filling each space with the spiced scents of the season. It’s where we are invited to return to childlike pastimes that ground and connect us to another time, to people — and gracefully opens our minds to an endless list of creative possibilities…
When Autumn begins to truly settle in, I’m not immediately drawn to flowers as the focus to my designs. As much as I love them, they are not what my natural world is presently painted in, and so I find inspiration elsewhere … In the bareness of nature, a lush feeling still exists — in the indescribable colors, shapes of stems and dried leaves with textures only seen this time of year.
And this year I transformed it into the season of the Quince … and Texture!
Seasonal inspiration is not only seen in the branches and vibrant golden hues with delicate depth. As my creative space turns indoors — it is the flavors and scents of the season that particularly interest my soul. I had been gifted a basket generously overflowing with beautiful Quince, in their varying yellow green tones that were beginning to soften with brown spots — what a truly special and almost rare thing to possess so many at once, and homegrown.
Naturally my mind drifted to Marmalade. To the rich yet subtle blushing pink and amber colors of quince when slowly cooked with sugar and spices. The very colors that resemble a collection of glass vessels, I’ve long been wanting to incorporate in a styling, not as an accent but as a main styled element. They patiently waited until this very moment…..
The key was to intentionally use minimal details, so that each unique piece created a statement all on their own. With four simple yet impactful elements — quince arranged in an overflow of volume, deep colored glasses in different sizes and heights, the last garden tomato vines for natural movement and lines, and all within layers of heirloom crocheted linens. Organically, an enchanting autumnal scene of seasonal texture was brought to life.
Logistically it was quite simple to arrange by using books and other stable objects underneath the linens to create the varying heights. I mainly arranged the quince in ways that their own weight and shape supported themselves, simply using toothpicks for the more structural designs seen in the ceramic bowl and on the right, where they look as if climbing directly atop one another. The tomato vines were secured in small flower frogs and the other greens leaves were carefully nestled within crevices I felt looked best.
When I took a step back, admiring the beauty in this incredible display of autumnal wonder, mesmerized by the romance of the flickering candlelight … I felt an inspired comfort.
…and of course every lovely quince was then cooked and sweetened into my Marmelada da Avó {Grandma’s Quince Marmelade}. They certainly were the Quinces that kept giving…
These are the small, simple pleasures and rituals that Autumn gifts us;
a reminder how beautiful and nourishing living with the season,
unhurried, can be..
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