With the warmer weather Paul and I have been entertaining at home quite a bit lately. The odd friend or two over for dinner, boisterous groups over for cocktails and nibbles on the roof deck and houseguests who deserve (and receive) a good breakfast on a Sunday morning. Handing out all of this food on our very boring dishes has me once again focusing on new table settings.
My adoration for Royal Copenhagen has in no way diminished over time. I still swoon over those sugar bowls whenever I see them and linger over the display cases when I'm shopping in a store that carries the blue fluted pattern. So you can I'm sure imagine the joy that this new derivation of the old favorite pattern brought me:
Aptly named Elements, I spent quite some time in Barney's the other day absolutely overcome by the sweetly creeping branches of the fluted pattern in the loveliest tints...even orange made an appearance! But for everyday dinnerware they are perhaps a bit precious.
I could go the faux route with this pattern:
At a fraction of the price of the real thing I could use it with impunity, whether it be bleary eyed in the early morning or after one too many glasses of wine in the evening. But I've never been one for fakes...they tend to make me want the real thing even more.
So perhaps the answer is to go a bit tongue in cheek.
The pattern is blue after all, and there is the requisite crown...but the top and bottom of the plate are flipped which I find quite cute. Crown on the top rather than the bottom, and giant octopus engulfing the plate on the bottom rather than the top! I love a china pattern that makes me smile.
11 comments:
We are woefully short of nice plates. We have a good white set, and the leafy green ones (I now have 8) by Royal Doulton which I am collecting but otherwise its all a bit terrible. The problem is that you have to buy more than one, and sets are very expensive. I love your ones, and I also love Taitu and Gien for flowery patterns, and I think the Anthro one you have shown is fantastic - I was tempted to but it but I thought it would freak the children out! xoxo
Someone once gave me a cup and saucer in Churchill Finlandia. I wonder what happened to it.
I'm a sucker for lovely china and have a full service of my 'best' Royal Doulton (in Sarabande, now sadly discontinued - but plain white bone with a black and silver band round the edge). It hardly ever gets used though. Occasionally I bring it out just for us and I feel very naughty eating from it - and then of course I don't want to put it in the dishwasher.
That's the trouble with good stuff - too good to use so what's the point?
I can understand your obsession.
I love china and have so much of it, all of it good. When I got married my husband said that I could buy all the china I wanted as long as I served on it daily. So I have, and I do.
I love all of these -- am a sucker for the crisp cleanness of blue and white. For everyday, I have a huge stack of simple white plates as well as a pile of Blue Willow I picked up secondhand years ago. Love having enough for a crowd and like to mix and match them so cheap and cheerful works for me. But you've got me itching to go find some more blue-and-white patterned plates to amp up the mix a wee bit. And inspiration's good! Thanks. . .
I'm a big fan of the faux route myself, Laura, mixed and matched with a few special serving pieces that could include Royal Copenhagen, Elements and anything else that plays in the blue and white pattern arena. I love the octopus plate! And right now, Anthropologie has some amazing From The Deep dinnerware that you really should see.
Jane - Just googled Taitu and have officially fallen for the Pesci line...that radicchio bowl of yours is fantastic as well.
French Fancy - True, true...one could use it always and destroy it or never at all and neglect it!
Angie - Your husband is a very enlightened man.
materfamilias - Let me know what you come up with!
Terry B - OK you've convinced me...a whole set of deep sea is soon to be mine!
Hi Laura...thanks for visiting! Love your blog...I'm looking forward to reading it more!
I love your dish choices...my mom has some blue and white fancy ones that she's had forever from Germany, can't remember the name, have to find out.
BTW - A mix of all your favorites would look great together.
I like the tongue in cheek path!!
I want a roof deck!
A couple of years ago ehenr i visited Denmark I spent time browsing the Rotal Copenhagen shop ... I learned to love blue and white during the years I lived in China and appreciate now Royal Copenhage and Delft porcelein.
Blue and white is always so perfect. It can be casual or sophisticated. You post made me want to hurry the warmer temps to so we too can start dining outside!
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