Interior designer Christine Gachot of Gachot Studios loves celebrating Easter by setting a beautiful table with flowers and treats—and making sure everyone leaves with a little something. She typically spends the holiday with her family, including her children Boris and Jack and their English cocker spaniel Slim, at their Sutton Place apartment. This Manhattan neighborhood, once home to I. M. Pei, Consuelo Vanderbilt, and Bill Blass, is a quiet retreat known for its classic six-floor layouts and charming cul-de-sacs. Gachot’s home fits right in—decorated in her firm’s signature warm minimalist style, it features Robert Rauschenberg lithographs, Noguchi lamps, Eames swivel chairs, and cozy sheepskin throws.

Each year, her husband and Gachot Studios co-principal, John Gachot, adds a playful touch by sketching on the name cards. Then, Christine turns to the flowers. She arranges mismatched vases in varying heights but within the same soft color palette, from antique 1920s Just Andersson vessels to Gallery BAC ceramics. She fills them with spring blooms like garden tulips, cherry blossoms, poppies, daffodils, and pale pink ranunculus (she’s a longtime client of Raquel Corvino flowers). The table is finished with delicate green-and-white floral plates from Porta and quirky radicchio-shaped salt and pepper shakers.

But the real stars of the show? The sweets. “Let’s be honest, that’s the best part,” Gachot says with a laugh. She fills vintage silver bowls and pails to the brim with pastel Cadbury mini eggs and scatters them around. A giant chocolate Easter Bunny sits on a side table—a playful centerpiece that always sparks conversation.

And that’s just the decor. For her annual Easter lunch (which tends to run late—”My family sleeps in these days,” she admits), she serves dishes like strawberry guava cake, blackberry cream cake, focaccia, and even caviar-topped potato chips.

Though her table is stunning, Gachot believes the secret to great hosting is keeping it relaxed. “Entertaining is a gift—your time, effort, and hopefully a happy memory. Let people help if they want, or just lounge if they don’t,” she says. “Treat them like family.”

Some of her favorite Easter flowers? Cherry blossoms, of course.

Photo: David Urbanke