Featured table setting
A seat at Charly's dream table
What does the perfect dining table look like for someone who has devoted her life to beauty? Serax posed the question to Brussels-based creative designer Charly Buron. Her answer: a nostalgic journey through a Parisian memory lane, captured on camera by photographer and friend Federica Simoni.
Tell us a little about yourself.
“I’m Charly Buron and I work as a creative and set designer. In essence, my job is to tell stories through carefully selecting and arranging objects and decorations in front of the camera. I’ve always had a deep fascination for still lifes. As a child, I preferred building Barbie or Bellville houses over actually playing with the dolls. Creating small, mysterious visual worlds is what truly makes my heart beat faster. I love spending time in my studio to work on projects, surrounded by the objects I’ve collected over the years. It’s my bubble. I can lose myself for hours doing dot-shading — creating drawings by tiny dots with a black pen — painting with watercolors, or building miniature theatres.”
What was the idea behind this Dream Table?
"It all began with a simple question: ‘Who would you invite to your dream table?’ And I instantly knew the answer — my grandparents. They passed away three years ago, and we were very close. My sister and I used to have lunch with them every day, from preschool right up to the end of high school. All our family gatherings also took place around my grandmother's table. I wanted to recreate that feeling — the warmth, the "routine souvenir" nostalgia — by creating a dreamy table with tablecloths and a selection of evocative props. Only one of the objects in the shoot actually belonged to my grandmother: an orange funnel. The rest are pieces I found at flea markets and second-hand shops. Yet they all remind me of her — those familiar, everyday things you’d find in a grandparent's home. I wanted these objects to act as a "madeleine de Proust", each one as a small trigger for childhood memories.”
You worked primarily with the Out of Lines collection by Uncharted for Serax. What draws you to it?
“What I love about this collection is its deep brown tones — something you rarely see these days in the kitchens of people my age or even our parents. The tableware reminds me of my grandmother’s old cups, pieces she might have inherited herself. Those warm, earthy shades evoke memories of old crockery, farmhouse kitchens, and the gentle passage of time. I also love the softness of the design — the rounded shapes make it feel comforting, almost tender. This tableware brings a quiet warmth that felt perfectly in tune with the dream table’s atmosphere. For me, it’s about embracing a certain melancholy — that bittersweet pleasure that comes from revisiting childhood memories.”
The shoot took place on the streets of Paris.
“That’s right. The photographer, Federica Simoni, lives in Paris. We met ten years ago in London and were flat mates for a while. So working on a project like this — one rooted in memory — felt like a gentle nod to that time in our lives. I live in Brussels now, but I always imagined the scene unfolding against a Parisian backdrop. Federica lives in a quiet neighborhood near Buttes-Chaumont and suggested shooting close to her apartment. She knew exactly where the light would be perfect, where the façades had beautiful textures and details. We let ourselves be guided by what we found along the way — by the poetry of the streets.”
Who, besides your grandparents, would you invite to your dream table?
“I’d love to be surrounded by older women — those charming, witty ladies who tell their stories with a sparkle in their eyes. I find them fascinating: beautiful, elegant and inspiring. I would love the way our conversations would drift between the everyday and the profound. I’d want to hear how life once was, and how they deal with the world today. I’d also imagine the table set around four in the afternoon, on an ordinary weekday, as we talk about everything and nothing. I’d serve my favorite dessert: my grandmother’s pudding, with a biscuit pressed inside and another on top — the taste of my childhood.”
