Pomegranates are the jewels of winter, Mother Nature’s pre-Christmas gift, exciting our eyes and our taste buds just when we need them most. So this month, pomegranate is my inspiration for interiors. This vibrant colour will instantly bring a burst of positive energy to your home, exactly what we need to help us with all that entertaining over the festive season …
I’m not a fan of December, the days are short and cold and the vibrant colours of summer are a distant memory. But there’s one thing in December that’s a real treat, and that is the sight of pomegranate trees. While other trees lose their colour in autumn and pack up for the winter, the beautiful pomegranate is just getting started. I watch the fruit on my neighbour’s tree getting deeper red by the day, marvelling at its fabulousness. How does it manage to put on such a show while everything around it is sleeping?
I’ve always shied away from red in any form. I’ve always thought of it as brash and vulgar, the colour of shiny Ferraris and football shirts. I never considered having such a look-at-me colour in my living space. But I was seeing red as a one-dimensional individual, dismissing it as all lipstick and thigh high boots. I never looked below the surface and discovered the joys of ruby or paprika or rust. The joy I feel looking at the little jewels on the trees has inspired me to invite this vibrant colour into my home.
Red can be one of the most passionate and life-enhancing colours to use in a decorating scheme. And December is the perfect time to try it out, it being an ever-so-Christmassy colour. It’s a great colour for creating energy and dynamism, and perfect for social environments like living rooms and dining rooms. From your table to your walls, red gives a home a really welcoming warmth. It makes the perfect backdrop for decadent feasts with loved ones, and looks fabulous at nighttime with candlelight. If you pair red with natural woods and green and gold, they all work together to make a space feel inviting and earthy and rich. You can season your living space like you do your food. If you like hot and spicy, go for wall-to-wall, if you like just a touch of heat, go for a sprinkling of red cushions and textiles.
Did you know that red has the longest visual wavelength of any colour? (Violet has the shortest, in case you were wondering). Because of its longer wavelength, red light scatters less than other colours. That’s why red is used for warning signs and traffic signals – it can be seen from farther away. According to colour psychologists, red is a very stimulating colour and triggers a powerful physical response in the body. It symbolises excitement, courage, strength, energy and warmth. It stimulates the appetite, good conversation and, er, love!
Whatever your feelings about red, it’s certainly a colour that makes you sit up and take notice. Just like pomegranates on a tree. They look so out of place in the winter; other fruits can only gasp at their audacity. But the pomegranate is a tough cookie and thrives in winter and harsh conditions. Pomegranates – romãs in Portuguese – like sunshine and dry air, so they thrive in the climate of the Algarve. They were cultivated by the Phoenicians, Greeks and Egyptians, and are mentioned rather frequently in theological texts, as they have always been considered a divine fruit. The ancient Egyptians especially loved the pomegranate and associated it with fertility, prosperity and eternal life. Today, they are called a ‘superfruit’ because they contain a whole lot of antioxidants, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, calcium, and vitamins C, B and E.
White sofa against red wall
December is a great month to find fresh pomegranates in the markets of the Algarve. Grown mostly south of the River Tejo, the pomegranate harvest runs throughout the autumn, with many still on the trees in December or even January. Like many other countries, Portugal has its own pomegranate ritual – the Epiphany Tradition (Dia de Reis) on 6 January involves eating a pomegranate and keeping the top “crown” of the fruit with a coin in a drawer. This is believed to ensure that “the bread never runs out” and that the house has good fortune and money throughout the year.
I know what you’re thinking; you fancy eating a pomegranate right now, but aaah, what a palaver it is! Even if you are skilled in the culinary department, it’s quite a task – the hacking of the bullet-proof skin, the spurting of the juice, the sorting through the tough white bits. A moment of joy when you taste that zingy sweetness, followed by a lot of time spent picking the seeds out of your teeth. When my girls were little, they adored pomegranates, but I dreaded them bringing the fruit home. The kitchen always looked like a crime scene after a pomegranate session.
Last week, an old lady in the Lagos farmers’ market took great pleasure in showing me how to deseed a pomegranate without making a mess. She sliced it clean in half with a flourish, held one half over a bowl like she was going to squeeze a lemon, bashed the skin with a wooden spoon and all the little jewels came tumbling out. Easy peasy. No struggle at all; it’s never like that in my house. If you don’t have the energy to tackle a pomegranate this Christmas, just bring its colour into your home instead … put some bright baubles on your tree, splash some grenadine into your cocktail, get yourself a Santa outfit and enjoy the festivity of pomegranate red!
Editor’s note:
This is Flora‘s final offering in her interiors series for Tomorrow. I cannot thank her enough for brightening our pages with her wit, beautiful writing, stunning artwork and fabulous interior design. We will miss you, Flora.
