Snowball Cucina 2024 took us deep into the heart of Italian family culture, and we mean RIGHT into Nonna’s kitchen. The brief was pure poetry, take everything we love about that traditional kitchen table and give it a contemporary edge. We call it Nonna Chic, abundant minimalism, warmth without the clutter, and Malvern Town Hall has never looked so much like home.The welcome set the tone before a single guest sat down.

An Italian folk band and their piano accordion played classics from the town hall balcony as celebrations kicked off, then moved into the dining room to walk guests in with them. That is how you open a room, with sound that feels like memory and a mood you cannot buy off a shelf.The round tables wore red, and they wore it proud. A rich red cloth, crisp white hemstitch cotton napkins and centrepieces built from the stuff of the table itself, tomatoes, loaves of bread, our custom designed Snowball Cucina tomato tins and snowflake doily coasters. Scalloped edge plates, traditional chrome cutlery and crystal water tumblers finished every place setting like it had been laid by someone who loves you.For the banquet tables we brought out Nonna’s good stuff.

Brocade table cloths and cut glass detailing emulated the tableware that only comes out for the people who matter most, with purple radicchio, tomatoes and bread styled down the centre alongside the same custom tins and coasters. A beige plate, chocolate and burgundy napkins, chrome cutlery and cut crystal water glasses, every detail chosen with intention.And then the produce went full theatre. Artichokes cascaded from stone urns like sculpture, cherry tomatoes tumbled down three tier stands in red waterfalls, eggplants, balsamic, tinned tomatoes and peppers turned the room into a market still life that guests could almost taste.

This is what we live for, taking the humblest ingredients on earth and styling them so boldly a fundraising room full of hundreds of people feels like one big family table. Mangia, Melbourne.