Singapore-based Korean food stylist Sunny Han on the chic art of hosting, decorating and dining

Head to Sunny Han’s Instagram account @sunnyskitchen and her dedication towards details – of every kind – is plainly obvious.

One post shows the stylish Singapore-based Korean food stylist and F&B consultant delicately painting candles for a dinner party, while another depicts her artfully decorated Easter eggs, which took inspiration from Claude Monet’s kitchen and dining room in Giverny.

It is perhaps Han’s meticulous and intimate attention to furnishings and details that recently saw her being one of three hosts for a series of private dinners Hermes organised for the press screening of its Fall/Winter 2021 collection showcase.

By day, Han is the creative director of the high-end co-working operator The Work Project and a self-described “home cook” (she took up culinary studies at the feted Culinary Institute of America), and memories of her travel serve as a starting point for most of her dishes. She combines them with a love for antique, artisanal tableware to create warm and colourful dinners for close friends and family.

Her kitchen, with its homely blue and white tiles and copper-accented stove, is reminiscent of what you may find in charming country homes in the French and Italian countryside.

“Since childhood, my family has spent a lot of time in Europe, especially in France and Italy, so when I designed my kitchen, I wanted to create a space that could transport me back to the European countryside and its comforting beauty,” she says.

That Italian influence was evident during her shoot with FEMALE (her first with a fashion media here).”The table setting I’ve created for this shoot, meanwhile, is one that I did for my friends last summer as a way of sharing memories of a beautiful lunch I had in Capri, Italy,” says Han.

“Telling stories is a passion of mine but, unfortunately, I did not inherit my father’s ‘gift of the gab’ – he was at the centre of attention and laughter in every room. What I did inherit comes from my mum and her mother: a habit of conveying stories and memories using other creative expressions like food, art, design and table settings, and it so happens that my kitchen is home to some of my fondest memories.”

Key to Han’s charming dinners is her honed eye for mixing and matching eclectic accoutrements. “Just as life is a collage of memories, so too is my way of expressing those memories. I am delighted by mixing, matching and layering – whether it be with flavors, textures, colors or cultures,” she explains.

“Vintage hand-painted Marie Daage plates, Parisian flea market silverware, paired with old school Japanese yoshoku-style hayashi rice with homemade demi-glace sauce reduced for 48 hours – when done with care and respect – you hopefully end up with an homage to the past and a celebration of your own memories.”

Below, we speak more with Han on what drives her cooking, her approach towards decorating and more.

On what influenced the design of her home

“I spent most of my adolescence and early adulthood in America and I was mostly influenced by the desire to tell the story of those times with my first apartment in Singapore. Ralph Lauren is one of my greatest creative heroes – I used to spend hours in his store and cafe in Chicago, sipping Bloody Marys while listening to greats like Frank Sinatra. This apartment is my attempt to recreate those memories in New York and Chicago and pay tribute to great American designers like Ralph Lauren and Barbara Barry.”

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How the pandemic changed the importance of home

“Home has always been important. But in the absence of travel, home has become a vehicle for transporting us into different places and seasons. In the summer, I hosted a lunch at the terrace inspired by my travels to Capri, Italy. Starting with a plate of crudo, spaghetti alla nerano (summer zucchini pasta from the Nerano region), ravioli caprese, seabass aqua pazza and baba al rum set to a table of ocean blue and lemon yellow, with Tarantella Napoletana music in the background.”

What she likes to serve at dinners

“I love serving food inspired by memories of my travels. For the past few years, I have been doing a series of white truffle dinners in late-fall early-winter inspired by my trip to the Piedmont region in Italy. They include homemade Tajarin pasta with white truffle shavings, white truffle pizza, vitello tonato, tortellini en brodo and a Japanese-inspired claypot rice with wagyu beef with shaved white truffles (pictured). It’s an opportunity for me to share those memories with close friends and family here in Singapore.”

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Her go-to homeware sources

“Marie Daage and Laboratorio Paravicini for beautifully hand-painted dinnerware. Richard Ginori for classic white porcelain that nails elegance. Carlo Moretti for colourful Murano glasses that accentuate your table. Sabre, Paris for everyday casual flatware that is practical and chic. Ercuis and Christofle for over-the-top silverware. Julia B for bespoke, hand-embroidered linens meant for table, bed and bath.”

Tips for pulling off a successful dinner party

“Design a picture-perfect table setting. Prepare a menu that can be cooked ahead. Don’t spend too much time in the kitchen cooking – hosts need to come out and socialise with the guests, more than cooking in the back kitchen. Have plenty of drinks ready and never cook a dish you’ve never attempted before. Create a warm mood by dimming lights and lighting candles. Stay calm and don’t be (too) nervous as a host; if the host is anxious, the guests will be affected.”

This article was first published in Female.