Duchess of York coming to Hawai'i for china talk
By Wanda A. Adams
Assistant Features Editor
The voice on the phone is lilting and friendly and the thoughts emerge in a breathy rush.
Advertiser library photo
"My mum was a wonderful hostess and had a great flair for looking after people and being a sort of party star, so I guess I got it at a very early age," says the Duchess of York. She is, she says, sitting in a hotel room in Charlotte, N.C., sipping Earl Grey tea from the Wedgwood Crown Sapphire china set that always travels with her.
Sarah Ferguson said it is important not to save china for the "fancy."
In that city, Sarah Ferguson was technically on the Weight Watchers clock, preparing to make an appearance for that company, for which she is spokeswoman and most famous client. But she also is the U.S. representative for Wedgwood, the British maker of fine china, and it is on Wedgwood's behalf that she will appear at Macy's Ala Moana Center store on Friday.
She will talk about setting a beautiful and personal table and sign select pieces of china for those who order in advance. (There will be no autographs at the appearance.) The stop here is part of an international tour that includes visits to Toronto, and to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
The duchess said the secret of a unique and beautiful table is "just not being frightened." People are intimidated by having people over and setting a nice table because "the man next door has it all and I don't, instead of saying, 'Well, I improvised, I made my own design.'"
• Seating is sold out for Ferguson's appearance at Macy's, although some standing room remains. • Seating will be from 11 a.m. on the fourth floor, with a stage appearance at 12:30 p.m. and a 1 p.m. china-signing. • Selected pieces of china can be purchased for signing (in gold or platinum, depending on the china design) whether or not you attend;pieces cost from $100 for a cake plate to $812 for a seven-piece tea set. Information: Macy's personal shopper, 945-6471.
A watercolorist who created a special platter for Wedgwood's Sarah's Garden line (which is named not for Sarah Ferguson, but for Sarah Wedgwood, wife of the ceramics company founder), Ferguson considers a dining room table, a tea tray or even a picnic cloth a blank canvas on which to paint with whatever's at hand. "Just because you aren't an expert doesn't mean you can't be an artist and let the creativeness in your soul come out," she said.
Signature china
In her work for Wedgwood, she takes her inspiration from the colors and motifs of the various china patterns. For promotional videos to be shown in stores — one of which can be seen on the third floor of Macy's now — Wedgwood challenged her to create a beautiful table on a tight deadline, with nothing but the china they provided and whatever she could find in the home in which the video was made.
The china was the bone pattern "India," which combines tawny yellows, deep reds and a sort of ivy pattern in the rim decoration, on a cream background. It reminded her of a spice market, Ferguson said.
"I went out in the back yard and found some ivy in a tree, which I picked — for free — and laced and trellised down the center of the table. I went upstairs to the bathroom and found these little scalloped soap dishes, like the shell dishes for coquilles St. Jacques, and washed them and put sea salt in them and arranged them on the table. I found some candles, but I had no candlesticks, so I floated them in a pretty glass bowl with leaves. I had literally between 10 and 20 minutes, and that was my test," she said.
She suggests you challenge yourself as well, to use whatever you have — whether it's fine china, pottery that can go in the dishwasher, even jelly glasses wrapped in fabric and stuffed with flowers. Take a walk around the yard and pick what's pretty or plentiful. Go through your knick-knacks, craft closet, children's toys and artwork projects and find appropriate items to form a centerpiece or create a theme for the table.
"If we learned anything from Sept. 11, it would be seize the moment, don't wait. Time goes by so quickly. Don't always say, 'I'll save it for fancy,' because that time may never come," said Ferguson, who uses her Crown Sapphire set once a week or so, for dressier occasions, when she is at home at Sunninghill Park, near London. It is cobalt blue, her favorite color, and was an engagement gift from Wedgwood.
Ferguson said she is "fearless" about packing china for picnics, or setting an outdoor table for Sunday brunch. It's so much more special than — shudder — disposable tableware, which she flatly refuses to use.
In the video, Ferguson appears with the present Lord Wedgwood, whose focus is on attention to detail. While praising his taste and skill, she says she doesn't have time for that. "I am a single working mother," she says, adding a new dimension to the term. "I have to go for what's practical while looking nice."
Ferguson said she tries to group her public appearances so that she's away for no more than a week or two, with time in between for her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
When she is at home, she said, "nothing comes between me and spending time with them."
In a recent In Style article she wrote, Ferguson explained her standard of polite behavior for her children: "A" behavior is for public occasions and is the most demanding, requiring flawless manners, polite and unwavering attention and gracious smiles; "B" behavior is for every day when they're out in public, at McDonald's or the movie theater, and means being gracious to people; "C" behavior is for home and, there, the kids can let their hair down. It's a shortcut message: "This is an 'A' event," she'll tell them, and they know what to expect. Dinner with "Granny" — that would be Queen Elizabeth II — would be an "A" event; "C" is brunch at home with Mum.
Her message on this Wedgwood tour, she said, is that "in this day of terrorism and war in Afghanistan, it's very important that all of our families stick together, have dinner together and communicate with each other, keeping up the standards and the important values of life."
