I’ve Been Thinking About This Tableware for a Year

Home Front is a weekly deep dive into the rising—and returning—trends, decor, and teeniest of design details fresh on our radar. In last week’s send, Samantha, Domino’s managing home and shopping editor, wandered into the world of sizable serveware.

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Around this time last year, I was in North Carolina for a family wedding. Southern magnolias were teasing us with their buds and the air was already sticky. But, as a ceramics hound, I wasn’t to be distracted. Pottery mecca Seagrove was just 40 minutes away. ISO: colossal dishes worthy of heaps of pasta, salad, and all manner of shareable meals. The three stops we hit before hightailing it to the ceremony has since set me on a big-platter bender. My latest acquisition just arrived fresh from Denmark, and I can’t wait to bust it out the next time people come over.

On Board

The dinner parties my husband and I host in our Brooklyn apartment are always crammed around large plates and bowls of food, and I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. To me, oversize serveware piled high symbolizes bounty and hospitality, even when you’re running low on actual square footage. I’m not the only one going gaga for the gigantic—Leanne Ford recently dropped a new 18-inch scalloped dish with Crate & Barrel, and Permanent Collection released a limited-edition style with ceramist Kymia Nawabi. So what exactly do I mean by XL platter? One larger than 12 inches round or 14 inches long and big enough to hold the twice-cooked eggplant I make every year that feeds at least a dozen. 

Here’s what I want to set my table with: 

1. Bordallo Pinheiro is a 140-year-old brand known for its teapots, sauce boats, and even tureens in the form of humble cabbage. Its extra-large design in white is a crisp take on the more commonplace green.
2. I always look to The Ark Elements for table inspiration, especially its on-point color combos. I credit my obsession with dishware to my grandmother, whose epic collection was always put to good use.
3. I’d use this 16-inch lilac platter as a tray on our coffee table when it doesn’t have summer taco fixings on it. It’s currently $100 off.
4. My ever-pale skin may give me away, but if I wanted to pose like I just returned from a Roman holiday, I’d quietly add this floral serving number to my shelves. The motif references a vintage plate that Cabana’s founder uncovered in her nonna’s kitchen cabinet. 
5. Porta is one of my favorite weekend haunts on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue, a proper antiques and homewares row. The Natalia serving piece’s mesmerizing bullseye design comes in five colors.   
6. I swear Splatterware makes even the dreariest day feel sunnier. Color it yolk hued like this 20-inch platter? Downright dopamine. 
7. I haven’t stopped thinking about this whimsical shell-shaped beauty since I saw it in January at the launch of designer Remy Renzullo’s collaboration with Carolina Irving & Daughters. The line is inspired by 18th- and 19th-century ceramics, and the pieces are hand-painted in Portugal.
8. The color palette of this graphic fruit plate is really speaking to me. Plus tulips are the dancers of the flower world, bending in angles that seem otherworldly, like here. Can you believe it’s dishwasher safe?
9. These Portuguese Casa Cubista platters come in eight different colors and patterns, but I’m fond of the Creamsicle pie cut. A shiny pavlova would be cute on it, right? 
10. If we’re talking entertaining, let me argue for another Carolina Irving standout. The Gigi server is jaw-dropping in salmon pink with a pattern echoing ancient Greek pottery. I love that it has a slight curved edge, too, for keeping cacio e pepe contained.

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