For our first edit, we asked Rikke Harker (a Sydney-based interior stylist and a founder of a lifestyle platform Rikke's Space), Helena & Vikki Moursellas (Sydney-based authors of a book 'Peináo: A Greek Feast For All') and Nastia Gladushchenko (a Blue Mountains-based botanical artist) to curate their Saardé Christmas Gifts.
Rikke Harker
interior stylist
Your perfect Saardé Christmas Gift is...
Saint-Raphaël Eau de Parfum + A Set of 2 Champagne Glasses + 'Swim & Sun: A Monocle Guide'.
Why did you select these particular designs?
Each on their own they are beautiful pieces that would elevate any experience, any setting. Together, they are the pieces that encourage entertaining/hosting a gathering – a reminder to create beauty for you and your loved ones and savour life’s simple pleasures; it’s meaningful moments.
I love that the Moroccan Champagne Glasses are handmade and tell a story through their perfectly imperfect variations. A design both beautiful and functional, one that prompts us to toast to life’s precious moments.
The Saint-Raphaël Eau de Parfum promises summery moments and the dispatching of memories, transporting you back to a time and place every time you wear it. Scent awakens the senses and also allows us to become a different person, or amplify the parts of ourselves we like the most. Finding this particular scent felt like coming home.
‘Swim & Sun: A Monocle Guide’ offers escapism and inspiration. Encouraging us to pause, flick through it’s beautifully curated pages and plan the next trip to somewhere sunny and salty.
“Flicking through a book, being transported to a time and place through familiar scents, sharing a special moment with loved ones. Each of these designs captures a simple pleasure and a moment in time that encompasses the Summer Christmas break for me. ”
What are your simple pleasures for the Christmas break?
If I’m in New Zealand with family, it’s gathering around the table sharing in conversation, going for walks on the farm breathing in the fresh country air, the sound of cicadas in the garden while reading a book pool-side, a trip to the lake (Taupo) to go fishing and water skiing. It’s going barefoot all day, sipping on a chilled glass of buttery Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, and being in one another’s company.
If I’m in Australia, it’s salty dips morning, noon, night, it’s listening to the chatter of the lorikeets at sundown, sharing in a glass of bubbles with family and friends, fishing off the beach in South West Rocks, watching a spectacular sunset every single night, and ice creams melting too fast to keep up with.
5 songs for simple pleasure at Christmas time?
1- A LA PLAGE - Juniore
2- SUN IT RISES - Fleet Foxes
3- LAKE MISSOULA - Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners
4- CALIFORNIA (CAST IRON SOUL) - Jamestown Revival
5- A SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE - Etta James
“There is a carefree quality to summer that we can so easily fall into step with the minute the warmer days arrive. Easy gatherings, salty swims, lingering balmy evenings. For me, the ability to slow down, to be present with self and with loved ones is one of life’s greatest joys.”
Helena & Vikki Moursellas
authors of 'peináo: a greek feast for all'
Your perfect Saardé Christmas Gift is...
'PEINÁO: A Greek Feast For All' + Yufka Grazing Board + Flow Resin Cheese Knife Merle + Olive Glass Condiment Dish.
Why did you select these particular designs?
We believe that every kitchen needs a good quality Grazing Board for dinner parties along with some pretty Cheese Knives. Our cookbook 'Peináo' shares 80 recipes to feed hungry guests, there's a feast for every occasion.
What are your simple pleasures for the Christmas break?
The festive season is literally the best time of the year for us, our simple pleasures are spending our nights baking all of our favourite cookies including our Kourabiedes (celebration cookies) and Melomakarona (Walnut and Honey cookies). And of course we watch 'Love Actually' whilst eating our cookies.
5 songs for simple pleasure at Christmas time?
1- IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS - Michael Bublé
2- ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE - Brenda Lee
3- SILENT NIGHT - Mariah Carey
4- LAST CHRISTMAS - Wham!
5- SANTA TELL ME - Ariana Grande
Nastia Gladushchenko
botanical mural and painting artist
Your perfect Saardé Christmas Gift is...
Nastia Gladushchenko x Saardé Beach & Bath Towel + Kinfolk Wilderness Book.
Why did you select these particular designs?
I’m obsessed with how lush and fluffy the Nastia Gladushchenko x Saardé Beach & Bath Towel is and of course so grateful to have had the chance to design something inspired by coastal Italian moods for Saardé.
'Kinfolk Wilderness' features gorgeous places off the beaten path I've been dreaming to visit so would be the perfect read to inspire me to start planning.
