Check Out the Dark Christmas Aesthetic of Cape Town Designer Rupert Smith
Cary Wong
Before the read
Q: What is the dark Christmas aesthetic?
It’s a moody, dramatic take on festive décor that blends gothic Christmas elements with rich textures and unexpected details.
Q: How does Rupert Smith design his gothic Christmas style?
He layers vintage finds, wild botanicals, and a palette inspired by Old Master paintings for a look that feels both edgy and elegant.
Q: Can a dark Christmas theme still feel festive?
Yes. By mixing luxury touches with foraged greenery and creative table settings, this aesthetic creates a holiday atmosphere that’s stylish and memorable.
Check Out the Dark Christmas Aesthetic of Cape Town Designer Rupert Smith
Cary Wong
Before the read
Q: What is the dark Christmas aesthetic?
It’s a moody, dramatic take on festive décor that blends gothic Christmas elements with rich textures and unexpected details.
Q: How does Rupert Smith design his gothic Christmas style?
He layers vintage finds, wild botanicals, and a palette inspired by Old Master paintings for a look that feels both edgy and elegant.
Q: Can a dark Christmas theme still feel festive?
Yes. By mixing luxury touches with foraged greenery and creative table settings, this aesthetic creates a holiday atmosphere that’s stylish and memorable.
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Rupert Smith’s Unique Aesthetic
On walking through Rupert Smith’s extraordinary and beautiful inner-city Cape Town loft, showcasing his signature dark Christmas aesthetic, it’s easy to appreciate why he is in constant demand in South Africa and abroad for his work in visual merchandising, installations, and high-end media events. As well as Rupert Smith’s consulting work in the retail, fashion, creative, and advertising industries, he is a lecturer at VM Central, the design consultancy and training studio that he co-founded with long-time collaborator Sanet Coetzee. And then there is his new shop, CENTRAL; the successor to O.live, his much-loved concept store that was the first to offer the wunderkammer aesthetic to eager, local decoristas. Just like its predecessor, CENTRAL has become a magnet for the city’s magpies, design lovers, and seekers of one-off treasures for the home.
Rupert’s own home is a double-volume industrial space with million-dollar views of Table Mountain and a spellbinding interior that is “a curation of all the gems that I have found on my life’s journey, things that have meaning to me.” It is in this urban, stripped-back setting that Rupert has foregone the conventional Christmas sentimentalities and instead conjured up a darker, more dramatic vision that marries the Gothic elements he loves with opulent accents and lashings of foraged botanicals—all of which are connected by a colour palette inspired by the paintings of the Dutch Old Masters. It’s a kind of magic.
Interior stylist styling Christmas decor
Home designer with botanical decor
Gothic Christmas
In describing his design aesthetic, he comments, “For my interiors, I prefer a canvas of black and white which I then Iayer with texture, plants, and objects that reflect my love for vintage and the unusual.” He also expressed a love of entertaining and having friends over. “Normally, it is very relaxed and low-key, but I do like to make a bit of an effort for special occasions like birthdays, Christmas and New Year,” he adds.
When asked about his tips for entertaining, he said, “Setting an interesting table is something I really like spending time on. A beautiful table can make a get-together so much more memorable. Colour and textures are very important to me when putting together a table. And of course, greenery, beautiful ceramics, and glassware complete the setting.”
