The Story of Blue Tablecloth
Before the plates arrive, before the wine is poured, a Georgian table may already have a story to tell.
Look closely at a traditional blue tablecloth and you’ll find deer, birds, fish and curling plants. Here and there, a couple in traditional dress might appear among the patterns. Even the knives and forks sometimes arrive ahead of dinner, printed onto the cloth itself.
These details have become so familiar in Georgia that it’s easy to admire them without asking where they came from. But unfold a blue tablecloth, and you’re unfolding a little of the country’s history too.
Why Blue?
The traditional Georgian blue tablecloth, known as lurji supra, was widely used from the eighteenth century, particularly in eastern Georgia and its larger towns, where it was also produced.
The dyeing techniques came from Asia. Cotton was coloured with indigo, which gave the cloth its distinctive deep blue and provided a striking background for the white patterns.
There was a practical advantage, too. At a table where wine was regularly poured—and occasionally spilled—a dark cloth was a forgiving choice. Georgian hospitality has always appreciated a beautiful table, but a little common sense helps when someone reaches for another toast.
Blue tablecloths found their way into households across different levels of society. Often kept for holidays and special gatherings, they became part of the preparations for welcoming guests: bringing out something treasured because the occasion, and the people, deserved it.
A Pattern Worth Reading
The traditional palette was simple: blue and white. The designs, however, had plenty to say.
Animals, birds, plants and human figures appeared repeatedly, alongside geometric shapes and the curved, teardrop-shaped motif familiar to many as paisley. With Persian origins, this ornament became part of Georgia’s decorative vocabulary through centuries of cultural exchange.
Other images have connections to much older beliefs. The deer, also found in ancient jewellery and artefacts, has been associated with life, faith and knowledge. Birds appear in Georgian mythology and are likewise linked with life. Fish carry religious and folk meanings.
These associations offer clues to how people understood the world around them. The cloth brought familiar symbols into the home, where they became part of family occasions and everyday surroundings.
Deer, Dancers and Dinner Settings
Some designs feel almost like little scenes.
Men and women wear the clothes of their time. Hunting scenes recall imagery found in older Georgian artefacts. Elsewhere, crosses, diamonds, circles and the swirling borjgali sit among the figures.
This geometric language has relatives across Georgian craft traditions, from the patterns of Khevsureti in the mountains to woven carpets.
Then, in the twentieth century, knives and forks began appearing on the cloths. Their meaning seems rather more straightforward: dinner belongs here.
There is something charming about that mixture. Ancient symbols share space with ordinary objects, bringing different periods of Georgian life together on one piece of fabric.
A Tradition Brought Back to the Table
For all its familiarity today, the blue tablecloth was a tradition that could have faded.
Historic examples survived in museums, preserving their patterns and the skills behind them. Studying and restoring those designs helped bring them back into use, allowing a new generation to make them part of their homes.
That return is where BlueTabla’s own story begins.
Our first tablecloths grew from the revival of traditional Georgian blue tablecloth designs. Collections including Kala, Akhvlediani and Meidani draw on that heritage, giving familiar motifs a place at contemporary tables.
Over time, the palette expanded to turquoise, red, green, grey and lighter blues. The patterns travelled further, onto runners, porcelain, scarves, ties and clocks.
The pleasure is in seeing these designs used and enjoyed again: a deer glimpsed between the plates, a bird beside a wine glass, an old pattern becoming part of a new family’s memories.
And, every so often, another wine stain joining the story.
