Tip Top Tableware

A year ago if you had asked me what my favourite thing was to shop for was, then I probably (definitely) would have told you clothes, clothes & more clothes. Now, don’t get me wrong I still love shopping for fashion, but there seems to be a new kid on the block and I just can’t get enough of them. Homewares, I’m talking about you.

I’m not sure where this newfound obsession has arisen from, maybe it has come about because I have crossed the border into the the ‘terrific (terrifying) twenties’ & adulthood. Or perhaps it is because I have found yet another thing that allows me to express myself, result! Whatever it is I am interiors obsessed and loving it. Long may it continue I say! Anyway, in my bid to hoard as many beautiful pieces to fill my future home with as possible, I seem to have amounted rather a lot of what I like to call ‘crockery’. Today I thought I would give you a run down of some of my favourite tableware pieces, in a bid to encourage you to join me in my newfound quest for the cutest crockery around.(spoiler alert: I think I may have found it already!).

I struggle to buy things if they don’t appeal to me in appearance, I love everything I own to be beautiful and I know that I will never be just a plain, white dinner plate girl. It just isn’t me! So when I started collecting I knew I wanted to love every piece I bought, starting off with this beautiful, retro feel stacking tea set from Hokolo. When I saw this reduced in TKMaxx a few months ago, I instantly knew that I had to have it. The pattern is colourful, bright and reminiscent of times gone by. On the practical side it is so easy to stack & store, and includes two cups, a milk jug & a sugar bowl. Perfect for future afternoon teas or coffee mornings – have I ever been more ready for grown up life!

On a slightly different note I recently picked up this mini, speckled Japanese bowl from the most adorable Japanese shop in Shrewsbury and I think it is so stunning. It does that thing that a lot of Japanese pottery does really well, which is that it does its job and it does it beautifully – I really appreciate the skill in creating an object that can do that. I mean, what more could you want, it is stunning and well designed for the job. This is a perfect bowl for nibbles, or could even to go on a bedside table & I know it is going to be with me for a long time to come.

Something that I love is a fun plate and one day I hope to have an old fashioned plate rack painted white to display a collection of fun plates in – so dreamy! It seems that a few of my family members must have picked up on this dream because over the past few birthdays & Christmases I have received some absolutely brilliant plates, starting with this blue pug plate from Anthropologie. I adore pugs and I think this is just the cutest thing ever. One of the reasons that I fell in the love with this plate was the gorgeous colours used on it, the blue is so warm and really works with the – well – pug coloured pug! It is definitely a love it or hate it item, to be honest as with quite a few of the gorgeous things in Anthropologie, and I have definitely had a few raised eyebrows when handing people food on it, but I love it and it is here to stay.

Despite my love for the pug plate, it is the plate that I was most recently gifted that has become my absolute favourite and that is my Let Them Eat Cake Plate from The House of Rym. I originally saw this autumnal looking plate in Nottingham Art Gallery and fell in love with it at first sight. Luckily for me my mum was paying attention & went and bought it for me for the Christmas just gone. Happy Days! If you haven’t checked out House of Rym then you definitely should, their homeware is to die for and I want to fill my WHOLE house with all their stunning patterns.

Lastly on the funky plate front is this black and white, fat cat plate from Lazy Oaf. Lazy Oaf is such a fun brand and on a recent visit to their shop I found a Hello Kitty World to celebrate the launch of their range with the cutest kitty cat around. Unfortunately, this awesome plate isn’t available anymore, but see below for similar designs. I also chatted a bit more about this plate in a post early last year called ‘Bits & Bobs I Bought‘ – you can check that out here!

The Decorating Studio at the Emma Bridgewater Factory in Stoke-on-Trent is the place to be if you want to fill your cupboards with the most personal & pride-inducing tableware. You can book a session and they have everything you could ever need to create your own amazing designs on the pottery of your choice & they even glaze it for you afterwards! Such fun!

In our session I chose to paint a plate because I thought it was the item that I would get the most use out of, but you can paint just about anything – including the biggest teapots I think I have ever set eyes on. For my design I stuck to a simple coloured pattern with calligraphy writing reading ‘hello’ in the middle and I love it. It was such a fun activity to do with family and friends, and whenever I eat from it I remember what a great day we had. I would 100% recommend you get down there and give it a go for yourselves – let your creative juices flow!