How to style your festive dinner table, according to Martina Mondadori

Despite following in her father’s footsteps and co-founding biannual design magazine Cabana in 2014 (she is daughter of the late Italian publishing giant Leonardo Mondadori), Mondadori segued into the interiors world in 2017 with the Casa Cabana collection. It’s a riotous, maximalist range of homewares made by artisans worldwide. This artisanal input is, she explains, the basis of the Cabana philosophy. ‘The idea of gathering around the table and conviviality has a special importance right now — but I think for us it’s also a matter of layering the table with things that feel relevant because they are rooted in craftsmanship and artisanal philosophy. It’s about bringing a whole culture to your table.’

The effect is dramatic. A Persian-inspired tablecloth is draped beneath Indian mouth-blown glasses, while Italian-made dinner plates perch atop Colombian Collective place mats. She doesn’t do things by halves. ‘I always tend to go for the less obvious,’ she says. ‘The moment you open Instagram now, you see a table setting, so why not be different? You wouldn’t dress in red and green for Christmas, and I feel like table dressing is like styling fashion. It’s good to make it different.’

While Instagram may be teeming with tablescapes (the hashtag has over 1.5 million posts), social media still plays a big part in feeding the designer’s creativity. ‘It’s a great place to scout new craftspeople and artisans; weavers, ceramicists, glasswares. You get inspired and discover new people. One of the first people I ever worked with, ceramicist Zsuzsanna Nyul, I found on Instagram.’

Naturally, hosting plays a big role in Mondadori’s life and her approach to throwing a party is as community-minded as her design choices. ‘I like to keep it informal and do a buffet. I feel people can get to know each other and mingle. It all feels more convivial and easy going.’ This method seemed to work wonders for the designer’s recent milestone 40th birthday, which turned out to be the ‘best evening of my life’.

‘For Covid reasons and because my mum had recently passed away, I gave up the idea of having a big party,’ she says. ‘I had all my best friends, it was a buffet situation at home, and we ended up singing. We didn’t have proper karaoke, but it felt like we did. It’s the surprising moments, the unpredictable things that come from the atmosphere you create; the food, the drinks, the people. It’s like an alchemy. It’s a formula that can bring situations to life.’

It’s this formula that has proven to be magic for Mondadori’s brand. From successfully launching a magazine to feeding its signature aesthetic into the Casa Cabana homeware line, the brand developed a cult following, with limited-edition magazines from Gucci, Burberry and Ralph Lauren selling for hundreds of pounds on the site. Is this just a way of life for Mondadori? Is her every move effortlessly exuding the ‘Cabana’ look? Not quite, she admits. ‘I love a TV dinner. If I’m home alone, which is rare, I devour a TV series and have dinner on the sofa. I think all women with three children, and a life, and work, have to be practical.’

Practical, maybe — but, as with everything Mondadori does, undoubtedly chic.