DESIGNS ELEVATE DINNER
Vancouver company creates hand-finished tableware featuring a timeless look and feel
Chips, cracks, missing plates, oh, my!
If you've been eating more meals at home in recent months, you may have noticed a few flaws with your current dinnerware.
Skipping the experience of dining on lacklustre dishes by elevating your offering is easy thanks to the Canadian company Fable. Designed in Vancouver and made in Portugal, the company offers artisan ceramic bowls and plates, along with select cutlery.
We caught up with co-founder and CEO Joe Parenteau to learn more.
Q For those who aren't familiar, what is Fable?
A Fable is a direct-to-consumer dinnerware brand that focuses on quality craftsmanship and ethical business practices. Our motto is that life's greatest moments are shared around the dinner table, so we aim to create unique high-quality products that make setting a beautiful table easy. Each piece is uniquely produced and shaped while still having a timeless look and feel. Q What makes it unique from
other dinnerware companies?
A Fable is all about transparency, from our business practices to the creation process down to our pricing model, we want to be as honest with our customers as much as possible. Fable avoids traditional retail markups while offering uniquely crafted pieces. We want to make outfitting your home a seamless process and provide our customers options outside of the traditional tableware retailers.
Q Why dinnerware and flatware specifically?
A Funny enough, Fable actually began when I was Christmas shopping for my mom a few years ago. I searched high and low through all of Vancouver to find her a new dinnerware set that was modern but also artisan crafted and unique. Who knew this would be such a daunting task. Feeling defeated, I ended up buying her a set from a big box store that didn't end up fitting in her standard-sized cupboards. It surprised us to see this gap in the dinnerware market and it inspired us to create our own, and voila Fable was born.
Aside from this dinnerware dilemma, our inspiration for Fable came from our team's love for food and creating memories over a delicious meal. We all hold such fond memories of spending time with our families and are inspired by those small details that elevate the experience, so dinnerware and flatware seemed like a great place to start.
Q Who is your target customer?
A We have a wide demographic of customers who are all different ages and at different stages of their lives, but we do see a large portion of our sales from customers in their 30s and 40s who have moved into a new home or are going through a renovation. It's the person who is looking to upgrade their dinnerware, and as a company our goal is to make that process as fun, easy and accessible as possible.
Q What might surprise people to learn about Fable?
A People might be surprised to learn that Fable is actually a fairly new company. We formally launched just under a year ago, in November 2019, and have seen overwhelming and humbling success since we began. Within two days, we sold out of all the brand's inventory and have been so thrilled with the overall response we've received to date.
People are also surprised when we share that we are from Canada. Many times companies like ours are from New York or San Francisco. It's always fun when customers ask if we ship to Canada or what the Canadian duties would be because there aren't any.
Q Where are the products designed and made?
A All of our products are designed in Vancouver and hand finished by a team of talented artisans in Portugal.
When choosing where we wanted our products to be made, Portugal was a natural choice.
The country is rooted in the tradition of ceramics, and when we met who are now our team of producers, we knew it was exactly what we were looking for.
Q What is the price range for Fable?
A Our products start at $46 and go up to $455 for our full dinnerware sets.
We offer ceramic bundles for those who are looking to complete their full dining set or bundles of four in our different plates and bowls.
Q Where can people check it out?
A All of our products are available to purchase directly through our website at FableHome.co.
Q What's next? Are there any plans to expand the line?
A On the immediate horizon we have some new colourways in our ceramics. We're working on a beautiful slate grey and blush pink.
And, without giving too much away, we are also looking at ways we can expand Fable beyond tableware and really tap into different moments spent in the home.
Think game-night, brunch, cocktail hour and picnics, those times spent together over great food and drink; 2021 will be a big year for us so our customers can look forward to some very exciting launches. We cannot wait to share what Fable has coming down the pipeline.