Floral hybrids More than a bunch of the flowery patterns arriving at market are crossing traditional flower imagery with atypical floral design elements; the result — design hybrids that give new direction to one of tabletop’s perennially loved genres. Woodland Floral, a porcelain pattern from Kim Parker for Gourmet Basics by Mikasa delivers flowers and leaves with a charming retro sensibility, but their ad hoc deconstruction updates them into an unfussy floral arrangement. At Arzberg, as a study in harmony between pattern and shape, the Serena design brings fresh focus to the brand’s longstanding Profi body. The white outline of each petal of the décor, a stylised geometric floral, echoes the distinctive white perimeter that outlines the Profi shape. Inspiration for the Serena concept traces to the outlined images in stained glass windows. Other understated yet impactful use of outlines can be seen on Bernardaud’s Rêve Limoges porcelain where branches with white blossoms are simply outlined in silhouette against a backdrop of small gold dots, and on Medard de Noblat’s Ombelles Limoges porcelain where sprigs of wild plants and grasses are presented as line drawings. Isabelle Barthel’s creation, Jardin de Louise, a Limoges porcelain pattern for Robert Haviland & C. Parlon, represents verdant stems topped with leaves; touches of gold stand in for speckles of sunlight. Underlying the green and turquoise colours, hints of grey are used to show the backstory of the designer’s first pencil sketch for the pattern. Faïencerie de Gien’s Allure collection, a project created with ceramic artist Themes from nature A potpourri of new dinnerware featuring freshly arranged botanicals, deconstructed flowers, roses by the dozens, bits of woodland wisps and a plenitude of birds and bugs are flourishing Donna Ferrari has worked in magazine publishing for over thirty years. As a consumer magazine editor she specialised in the tableware, homeware and bridal markets, and styled and produced stories related to bridal gift registry, wedding reception design and at-home entertaining. Personally, she has eleven different sets of dinnerware and closets dedicated just to tabletop accessories; she says she loves not ever having to set her table the same way twice. Tableware Trend Analyst Donna Ferrari Trends Column 28 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL Olivier Gagnère, intends to tell Gien’s storied history in a new way: the message, a brand with continuity and relevant designs; the method of telling it, Gagnère couples Gien’s past designs featuring hallmarks, heraldry and its classic Tulipes Noires pattern with bold graphic elements delivering a contemporary vibe. Remastering old designs into new ones has arrived as a major direction in designing tableware. Royal Limoges’s Paradis pattern has been in production since the Belle Époque era, but the brand is not resting on its laurels. The exuberant Paradis décor previously decorating a round body has been reincarnated onto the Nymphea body — which is full-blown like a flower. Voila, the new Nymphea Paradis pattern ready for its run until at least the next fin de siècle. Coming up roses As Millennials enthuse about retro styles it is unsurprising that the rose, the quintessential romantic flower, adorns so many new collections. Plucked from archives and then tweaked, or cultivated as artistic specimens, here are some rose patterns in the tabletop limelight. Villeroy & Boch’s Rose Cottage premium porcelain with its fusion of an heirloom botanical rose image and a stylised floral print embodies both homespun appliqué work and the edgy fashion trend for “mish-mashing” prints. Royal Albert’s Cheeky Pink fine bone china gives old-fashioned roses a modern makeover by adding a top note of playful polka dots; and although lighthearted, the pattern offers a pleasing soupçon Juliska Robert Haviland & C. Parlon Royal Limoges Mikasa Faïencerie de Gien Floral hybrids Arzberg
Transcript
Floral hybrids More than a bunch of the flowery patterns arriving at market are crossing traditional flower imagery with atypical floral design elements; the result — design hybrids that give new direction to one of tabletop’s perennially loved genres. Woodland Floral, a porcelain pattern from Kim Parker for Gourmet Basics by Mikasa delivers flowers and leaves with a charming retro sensibility, but their ad hoc deconstruction updates them into an unfussy floral arrangement. At Arzberg, as a study in harmony between pattern and shape, the Serena design brings fresh focus to the brand’s longstanding Profi body.
The white outline of each petal of the décor, a stylised geometric floral,
echoes the distinctive white perimeter that outlines the Profi shape. Inspiration for the Serena concept traces to the
outlined images in stained glass windows. Other understated yet impactful use of outlines can be seen
on Bernardaud’s Rêve Limoges porcelain where
branches with white blossoms are simply outlined in silhouette
against a backdrop of small gold dots, and on Medard de Noblat’s
Ombelles Limoges porcelain where sprigs of wild plants and grasses are presented as line drawings. Isabelle Barthel’s creation, Jardin de Louise, a Limoges porcelain pattern for Robert Haviland & C. Parlon, represents verdant stems topped with leaves; touches of gold stand in for speckles of sunlight. Underlying the green and turquoise colours, hints of grey are used to show the backstory of the designer’s first pencil sketch for the pattern. Faïencerie de Gien’s Allure collection, a project created with ceramic artist
Themes from natureA potpourri of new dinnerware featuring freshly arranged botanicals, deconstructed flowers, roses by the dozens, bits of woodland wisps and a plenitude of birds and bugs are flourishing
Donna Ferrari has worked in magazine publishing for over thirty years. As a consumer magazine editor she specialised in the tableware, homeware and bridal markets, and styled and produced stories related to bridal gift registry, wedding reception design and at-home entertaining. Personally, she has eleven different sets of dinnerware and closets dedicated just to tabletop accessories; she says she loves not ever having to set her table the same way twice.
Tableware Trend AnalystDonna Ferrari
Trends Column
28 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL
Olivier Gagnère, intends to tell Gien’s storied history in a new way: the message, a brand with continuity and relevant designs; the method of telling it, Gagnère couples Gien’s past designs featuring hallmarks, heraldry and its classic Tulipes Noires pattern with bold graphic elements delivering a contemporary vibe. Remastering old designs into new ones has arrived as a major direction in designing tableware. Royal Limoges’s Paradis pattern has been in production since the Belle Époque era, but the brand is not resting on its laurels. The exuberant Paradis décor previously decorating a round body has been reincarnated onto the Nymphea body — which is full-blown like a flower. Voila, the new Nymphea Paradis pattern ready for its run until at least the next fin de siècle.
Coming up roses As Millennials enthuse about retro styles it is unsurprising that the rose, the quintessential romantic flower, adorns so many new collections. Plucked from archives and then tweaked, or cultivated as artistic specimens, here are some rose patterns in the tabletop limelight. Villeroy & Boch’s Rose Cottage premium porcelain with its fusion of an heirloom botanical rose image and a stylised floral print embodies both homespun appliqué work and the edgy fashion trend for “mish-mashing” prints. Royal Albert’s Cheeky Pink fine bone china gives old-fashioned roses a modern makeover by adding a top note of playful polka dots; and although lighthearted, the pattern offers a pleasing soupçon
Juliska
Robert Haviland & C. Parlon
Royal Limoges
Mikasa
Faïencerie de Gien
Floral hybrids
Arzberg
cross section of a tree trunk, however, these tree rings are created with 24k gold. Vietri’s elegant Bellezza Bloom White Daisy collection, modelled after designs by artisan Stefano Roselli, is made from terracotta which in Italian literally means ‘baked earth’. Iittala engaged illustrator Lotta Olsson to design the Varpu pattern for its Sarjaton porcelain line. Nature and fantasy connect in the sylvan – fairyland scale – motifs depicting aspects of an Arctic woodland.
Birdwatching Beautiful bird designs continue to flock to tableware. Two of the newest bird-centric patterns are very fine feathered indeed: Porcelaines Raynaud and Fromental – a specialist brand in couture wall coverings and fabrics – collaborated to create their Paradis pattern of Limoges porcelain decorated with luxuriant and dream-like images of nature, characteristic of those seen in 18th-century chinoiserie furnishings. The rich but subtle colours of the bird’s plumage, and the foliage and flowers are offered on either a light turquoise or white background. At Richard Ginori 1735 Volière, designed in company with Atelier Sandro Barros, also makes for a splendid aviary-esque porcelain dinnerware set. The collection presents twelve different birds wreathed by
gold bands and plants and perched on festoons identifying their
species. More informally, at Twig New York the Blue Bird fine bone china
pattern designed by
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Molly Hatch is clearly in step with the pop culture taste for new designs reminiscent of vintage styles.
Bugs to behold The reboot of interest in the natural world has consumers welcoming bugs and insects into their homes – well, at least in as much as these masterpieces of nature look great visualised on tableware. At Herend four different life-like dragonflies are meticulously hand painted on the brand’s porcelain Dragonfly dessert set. From Vista Alegre, the porcelain Caribe collection, designed with the Christian Lacroix brand, is decorated with fantastical elements, in particular a technicolour array of insects that whirl around the gear-shaped dinner plate. The eponymous designer of Lou Rota London shows her penchant for creating products like the Scarab Beetle fine bone china pattern that speak to the nascent but fast-growing trend for idiosyncratic, offbeat and surreal designs for tableware. Lastly, as the story goes, ladybugs bring good luck, one of the reasons they are universally cherished. Prouna holds them dear too: on their My Ladybug fine bone china pattern ladybugs are spotted using Swarovski crystals.
of formality. Kate Spade New York’s Rose Park bone china by Lenox has the panache of easy-breezy chic recalling the nonchalant glamorous illustration styles of the Sixties. Q Squared NY’s Cambridge Rose Cobalt tableware takes its looks from traditional English blue and white china rose patterns of the past and its durability from being made of 100 per cent melamine. Whilst the six heirloom roses shown on Portmeirion’s new earthenware Botanic Roses range stay true to a botanist’s point of view, Ted Baker Portmeirion willingly takes a modish turn with the Rosie Lee range. Rosie Lee – cockney slang for tea – features a design Ted Baker used in his 2015 apparel line, and which he described as having “vintage-inspired flair”. The fine bone china range includes niceties like a domed butter pat dish.
Naturalistic impressions Several collections represent nature’s charms as naturally as possible. Juliska’s Forest Walk stoneware is bestrewn with renderings of the twigs, leaves, feathers, mushrooms and other things collected on a forest walk the designer took with her family. Dibbern’s Golden Timber bone china pattern, designed by Bodo Sperlein, is
