China Galore!

You might wonder what difference can a plate make? Excellent question! Setting a table with imagination — think art installation, think many patterns of plates — may cause all manner of things to happen. Empires have risen and fallen around the dinner table. We ourselves might not be able to mend the world but we can tidy up our corner of it. Dinner by dinner we make life worth living for ourselves and others. One way is by having fun setting the table.

An opportunity has arisen to collect bits and pieces, stacks and sets, china considered best in the world; Richard Ginoi, Haviland, Royal Crown Derby, Mottehedah, Herend, Gien. Charleston’s finest wedding and gift store shut down resulting in a porcelain treasure trove. The owner of Vieuxtemps is selling off a myriad of marvels at a discount. If you relish adding zing to your dinners do something lickety-split. (This post is not sponsored!)

A single dinner plate or a set of twelve is not a big investment but an unremitting delight. Collecting these things pays dividends over and over and over, not in interest payments but in creating settings that facilitate interesting conversations and connections.

Owning multiple sets gives you tools and options to continually create unique settings. Unify the table according to your own rules. Choose plates with a similar feature from different sets, such as all rims, or medallions, or in the same color way. Have fun finding out who notices your roast chicken served on different color bird plates. Design useful centerpieces, lining chargers down the center of the table and topped with food, like serving platters. Fill wide rimmed tea cups with soup, for a first course. Collect dozens of different tea cups to host an annual mother daughter holiday tea party.  

Royal Crown Derby bird plates

Herend tea cups

Different patterns, different chargers...

Different makes (Haviland & Ginori) same color way

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a certain charm to our grandmother’s and great grandmother’s match-y match-y dining tables — do remember that their handbags and shoes, coats and hats, nail and lipstick matched too. That was the way it was. Now we live in a diverse society free to express many moods, create endless experiences and introduce all kinds of people to each other, right from our dining tables. Why not do it in the most imaginative way possible to create a scene and make things of consequence occur at and from your table?

Consider:

- A set of six different color bird plates from ultra-luxury Royal Crown Derby.

- Sets of Herend tea cups and saucers to mix and match for hosting mother daughter holiday tea parties on an afternoon between Christmas and the New Year.

- Six or twelve plain and patterned chargers to mix plus use as serving platters.

- Sets of plates of one make but with different patterns and color ways that work together.

- Sets with central medallions.

For more information:

Email info@vieuxtemps.net

DM via Instagram @UndertheFiggTree

Blow Open Your Tabletops

Now to address a few burning Bridal FAQs re: table settings, centerpieces, and personal style. A wedding registry is no time for strict guidelines, but rather a chance to begin building your collection for decades of dinner parties to come. No matter what stress should ever consume your day, you can ease out of it by cooking dinner, sipping a glass of wine, and setting the table (and mood) for the night ahead.

No need to register for two china patterns, one fancy and one for everyday. Way too old school! Far better to delve deep into your inner being and suss out all the aspects of your person. Think color, moods, passions, place...

For example, maybe you appreciate hand-carved wood -- consider a collection of handmade bowls. There's no end to what you can do with these. Use smaller ones for olives and nuts at cocktail hour, or for individual starter salads at dinner. Fill larger bowls with BIG salads, or perhaps something else interesting (citrus, hankies, pens and paper for a parlor game) to set as a centerpiece. Or, choose wooden chargers. And you know what looks good with wood? Gold, of course!

Just look at this extravagant, marvelous, opulent Royal Crown Derby. Who can afford to collect a whole set? And besides that, who wants to? It is so too much, simply over the top. All that gold cancels out to equal a big let down, where a one-size plate sizzles and shines on the table. Perfection! A gold salad plate looks amazing filled with greens for a salad course, chocolate tart for dessert... Actually, everything looks good with gold.

Okay, how to satisfy your love of birds? Consider Ginori. There is nothing as wonderful as a set of 8 or 12 or 24 dinner plates featuring birds. These beauties yearn for a Thanksgiving dinner to be placed on them, but dazzle even under an everyday roast chicken. These plates say something about you; your passion for nature, individual style, love of design. What could be more boring than a whole set of one china pattern covering the table? The older the Dean gets, the more she thinks, YUCK. This person has let someone else tell her what to do, and ignored that inner voice of what she likes.

What appeals most to us? Anything but flipping through ad-filled magazines, shopping at bridal superstores, or listening to friends and family who have never identified true style. Plates and objects on a table are a way to express yourself. So are centerpieces: flowers mixed with fruit, bunches of veggies and greens that will become tomorrows main course, a handmade pie that will become tonight's dessert.

Have fun with the rest! Modern flatware choices might include horn (so chic) or bronze (gleams on the table and unique to boot) but there is still something to be said for a classic silver pattern. The most popular through the ages? Francis the First has that swirly Baroque feel which pairs so well with plain, stark, straight. Don't be afraid to mix high and low. As for napkins, it's all about juxtaposing different colors, textures, and aspects of your personality. Sometimes you feel flirty and fun, other times more composed and traditional. Sometimes girly, sometimes a huntress.

Let it all out on the table, loves. These kind of style decisions will get you well on your way to bolstering your confidence. No one needs to tell you they approve. If you like it, then go for it. That’s exactly what the Dean does, and it has always worked for her.