Old-fashioned china is kind of boring (and often quite hideous), and when it comes time to serve food, I’d rather leave it on display than actually use it for anything at all. Somewhere in classic china design, someone forgot that the food actually does need to go on the plate. Especially when choosing fine china, often for upcoming weddings, the choices just seem kind of…ugly.
Here are some of my favorite clean, contemporary tableware solutions, that anyone of our generation wouldn’t be afraid to put on a registry.
1. I love the simplicity of Qi set by Germany’s Furstenberg Porcelain Works (nothing to do with Diane of the same name). The set is unglazed, polished porcelain on the outside, and glazed ceramic on the inside. Designed by Kap-Sun Hwang, it costs a mere $634 for a 5 piece set, and it takes 2-3 weeks to get a set in special-ordered through LA’s FitzSu.
2. Some of the strangest, most innovative, and most functionally limited service pieces can be found in Chicago, Illinois, and are made by the design firm Crucial Detail. They’ve built several custom service-pieces for world-renowned restaurant Alinea. My favorite is the Squid, which is designed to cradle delicate round objects so that they don’t lose their vertical orientation. Of course, if you actually want something a little bit functional you can buy one of their porcelain mounds plates ($60).
3. If porcelain isn’t your thing, there’s always Ferran Adria’s (of El Bulli fame) Faces service-ware set. The designs range from fairly tame with his Baroque Skewers ($18 from Le Sanctuaire) to his Mars Tray ($73.60 from the same). The highlight of the collection are his Wings Plates (15.9 euros from Oh Menaje), and which appear to be nearly impossible to track down state-side. These stainless steel plates are stackable and lightweight, plus they look like something out of a sci-fi movie.
4. Alessi designs, an award-winning design firm from Italy, makes a similar looking Trivet that’s round and also made out of mirror-polished stainless steel ($74 from Alessi). You can also pick up any number of their designs at their Chicago, New York, or LA stores.
5. If straight lines, and a much more stark look are your thing, you’d do well to check out the Prime, ceramic tableware. The Royal Porcelain Company from Thailand manufactures these award-winning plates, but I’ve yet to be able to find an online location to buy these plates. If you’re really interested, you can fly out to either Bangkok or Phuket and check out one of their retail showrooms.
