Etiquette and Tiffany’s Table Settings

This beautifully set dining table for four features elements from Tiffany’s. It is the first of the settings shown in the 1960 book, “Tiffany Table Settings.” The book was a companion offering to the women who not only participated in the yearly event, but notably to those who couldn’t attend the popular show of tabletop artistry. Etiquipedia will be featuring more from the book in the coming days, along with etiquette critiques of the late-1950’s to 1960 settings.

In 1956 Tiffany & Co., the famous Fifth Avenue jewelers and silver smiths, inaugurated an active program to present table settings of taste and imagination to the public. The purpose of this program a continual round of exhibitions-is to inspire and provoke greater interest in this area of design. When the exhibits are held, thousands of people visit Tiffany's weekly to view the settings by New York's leading hostesses and interior decorators. The store holds that a "per fect party" implies a beautiful table as well as a distinguished menu. Those who are chosen to design tables select Tiffany china, silver, and glass as accessories on their tables, combining these elements with their own furniture, linens, and antiques.

This collection of settings has not been compiled to instruct in the "book of etiquette" sense. Rather, it is hoped that the presentation of these settings will be a source of inspiration and a focus of ideas to any hostess.

There is infinite variety of design in these tables. Some of the set tings are based on the theory of switching objects created for one purpose to other uses, as well as juggling to make new combinations of color, fabric, and shape. Some of the settings are classic examples of subtle orthodox statement. Others are frankly based on fantasy.

The common denominator of good style, however, underlies all the designs, regardless of the occasion or spirit of formality or infor mality. A table set with inexpensive earthenware, for example, on a checked cotton cloth can be as enticing and appetizing as one of rare porcelain, crystal, and silver.

The editors believe that a woman is not using her own creative abilities unless she can turn her imagination to lending a fresh look to her table. It is hoped that this book will encourage a new point of view in this field of interior design. — Tiffany Table Settings, 1960

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