Tableware Design
Crockery, cutlery and glassware reflect new approaches to design, displaying a new-found delight in decoration but also a return to a softer kind of minimalism
STYLISTIC LIMITATIONS AND UNEQUIVOCAL DESIGNS WENT OUT SOME TIME AGO, their place taken by different interacting trends. Design has picked up on a range of new stimuli from the worlds of art and fashion, and evocations of far-off lands. Now, decorative elements are making a comeback as the qualifying value of the design. Nothing obvious: this is a whole new aesthetic concept, sometimes playful, sometimes ironic. And yet on many designs the appeal of minimalism persists, its essential forms and softer use of colours and textures transforming simplicity into a decorative element. Today’s interior design culture is characterised not merely by objects that serve a functional purpose, but increasingly by elements that say something about the personality of their user, in an approach that permeates every aspect of lifestyle. And this also applies to the architecture of the dining table: a daily manifesto of what can be done when you mix necessity with pleasure. ○
Stickers – applied by hand to porcelain – celebrating flowers as a universal gift, for all occasions.
www.ilariai.com
The garden dreamed up by the Irish artist consists of a stylised pattern of leaves and twigs against a latticed background. A collection of twenty items of different shapes, sizes and colours that can be variously combined.
www.hermes.com
Fairy-tale characters hidden in a personal floral universe, a cultural transposition of the work of the young Romanian illustrator. www.bitossihome.it
Coloured enamels and precious metals, applied by hand to this set of decorative plates (in six patterns), define the vital power of the apes that are its subject matter. www.bosatrade.it
An elegant, self-produced series, decorated with Greek vases, in chalk-white porcelain with gold edging (by Rosenthal). info@cqstudio.it
An idea inspired by the landscape of the lagoon. This set is made up of a walnut tray and a pair of hand-finished, coloured glass tumblers, whose subtle transparencies are superimposed to give rise to a third shade. www.lunardellivenezia.net
A whole new take on the cheeseboard. This three-dimensional table stand comprises a series of circular black wood trays topped by a small copper container. www.cheesefromswitzerland.com
Formal imperfection (everything is strictly hand crafted), black edging and variously thick and thin contours applied to deliberately elementary forms. www.revol1768.com
Functionality is maintained by reducing the material to an absolute minimum (“Like a skeleton seen in an X-ray”). To hang on a rail or prop on the side of a cup or bowl. www.valerie-objects.com
A new, more sensual approach to dining: guests are invited to pick up these shell-like plates (crafted from high-end Limoges porcelain) and elegantly lick and slurp food from them. hello@sarahlindaforrer.com
Each hand-made borosilicate glass container in this cruet set is in two parts: a 30-cl bottle and a pipette-style oil and vinegar sprinkler. www.ichendorfmilano.com
Obtuse angles and pleasant, textural contours. “Objects that always accompany us”, as the translation Japanese says. www.alessi.com