One of the most intimate and bonding experiences you can have is sharing a meal with someone. And, when it’s at your own dinner table, the pressure to create an enjoyable and comfortable environment is higher than ever. A component that you can never truly ignore in a dining setup is tableware (the little things truly do count). Having excellent tableware is really important. It has the potential to completely transform your dining experience, taking away attention even from the food! Designers have been getting extremely creative when it comes to cutlery – from a minimal Japanse folding knife that can be hooked onto the edge of a plate to tableware made from walnut shell. Hence, we’ve curated a collection of innovative and exciting tableware designs that are sure to be the highlight of your next dinner party!
1. The Oku Knife
The Oku Knife is really a unique one. Designed the Kathleen Reilly, the knife is inspired by Japanese table settings and is equipped with an innovative handle that folds at 90 degrees from the blade. The interesting shape of the knife ensures that the handle can be placed on any surface, with the blade placed perpendicularly away from that surface. You can even rest the knife’s blade along the edge of a cutting board or plate.
2. Walnut Shell Tableware
If you mix walnut shells, pine resin, and Canauva Power you get NOS, which provides new CMFs with a wide range of colors, patterns, and light transmissions, since it involves grinding large volumes of walnut shells into different sizes. Pine resin is used to bind it. Once the shell of the walnut is separated from the kernel, it is discarded as waste. And this waste is being transformed into entire plates by designer SooA Choi!
3. Joseph Joseph Salad Bowl & Servers Set
Joseph Joseph and Element Studio collaborated to create this thoughtfully designed and minimal salad bowl and servers set. It’s an intelligent space-saving design since both products can be merged into one convenient product, seamlessly integrating functionality and form. It occupies a tiny amount of space on your dinner table or kitchen drawers, and it is also quite aesthetically pleasing.
4. The Hida-Cedar Bowls
Designed by Higashi Shunkei, these stunning woods bowl were created using cedarwood sourced from the forest in Takayama. Called, the Hida-Cedar bowls they are spun, finished, and lacquered within Higashi Shunkei’s workshop, and showcase a beautiful dark finish with light-colored bands, bringing to mind the image of a tiger’s striped skin.
5. Wasteware
Viennese designer, Barbara Gollackner collaborated with Australian chef and restaurant owner Martin Kilga to create the ‘Wasteware’ collection, a range of tableware made using leftover food! The duo created a collection of bowls, plates, and cutlery using industrial and personal food waste. To bring the interesting tableware items to life, the studio utilized food waste such as pork skin, and old bread – from personal and industrial waste.
6. The NEST
The NEST is a clean, minimalist, and monochrome salt and pepper shaker that is inspired by a bird’s nest. Designed by Mirko Romanelli, the shaker design was made from marble, imparting it with an elegant and solid identity. “The nest envelops, houses. and protects the egg inside. The aim is to work with marble through simple and geometric shapes such as the sphere and the toroid, enhancing the material aspect of marble and offering the user a product that gives great flexibility of use,” said Romanelli.
7. Brunetti’s Ceramic Mugs
These stunning ceramic mugs by Frank Brunetti feature a full matte monochrome appearance, accentuated by a touch of glossiness on the edge. The mugs are true beauties, and available in a wide range of vibrant color options, forming a colorful and playful pack of mugs when placed together on your dinner table.
8. Imre’s Hug Cup
Imre’s Hug Cup was designed with the intention that, “we give special attention to things we use in our everyday life. We like to have a personal relation to the objects we touch closely, such as a cup.” The internal handle of the mug is pretty unique, as it enables the users to grip the Hug Cup while feeling the warmth of the liquid contents inside!
9. Smogware
The Smogware is an elegant minimal porcelain tableware collection that is really quite unique. The designers harvested dust, notably air pollution from Rotterdam, Netherlands, and integrated it into utensils such as plates, cereal bowls, and coffee tables by harmoniously glazing the particles onto the items.
10. Art Deco Garden Collection
Each piece of the Art Deco Garden Collection is inspired by Japanese Zen Gardens and the age of Art Deco. The porcelain tableware shimmers in white and is lined with hand-painted golden patterns reminiscent of the Art Deco movement. Brass accents enhance each piece’s ode to Art Deco.