Earth&Ware Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 In the Personal Journal section of the Oct. 1 WSJ is a lengthy article titled "Forget the Food: Trendy-Restaurant Diners Want the Plates." This site won't allow me to cut-and-paste the article, but the gist is that restaurateurs are replacing white porcelain dishes with more rustic-looking ware. Chefs say that farm fare "pops" when served on handmade, glazed ceramics in earth colors. Designs are updated too, with shallower bowls and sloped plates. Many customers are trying to purchase the plates directly from the restaurant, or are tracking down artisans who cater mainly to restaurants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 I heard a presentation on this subject by a potter who was the only one catering to the restaurant trade. The Bellagio in Vegas was one of her clients. She made some good points. One ... The buyer will drop the plate to see how easily it breaks. Broken plates are lost $$$ Two ... The health department will search for chipped dishes and then they have to get rid of them. So edges should match the underneath clay so they don't leap out and get noticed. Three ... Excellent fitting stacking and storage is needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Is this the WSJ story you were referring to? http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-latest-farm-to-table-trend-rustic-dishes-1412102692 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsu Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Thanks for posting, validates the philosophy and aesthetic of the approach that I have taken and I needed that boost right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomhumf Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 As a chef and a potter I see both sides to this. The restaurant I work at still uses boring white mass produced porcelain, cost is obviously a factor. Hoping I can persuade them to let me produce some stuff in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth&Ware Posted October 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 If you want to persuade your restaurant to try some handmade things, you might suggest bud vases, or containers for sugar packets, or such. Breakage and stacking wouldn't be as much of an issue as with plates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted October 5, 2014 Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 As I said in the other chipping question post ... I think a far better idea for potters is to produce the Chargers ... The decorative plate that is removed before your meal is served on regular plates. They are generally handled more carefully and maybe not washed as often? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomhumf Posted October 5, 2014 Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 Yes bud vases could be a good idea, we are actually low on soup bowls at the moment so i might make some of those - it's only a small place so we wouldn't need many. Even the commercially made ones we have stack terribly, and handles have broken - hence only a few left. We aren't a fancy enough place to have chargers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patsu Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 Neat how this guy uses an arm with a plexi form to shape the interior of the plates after cutting them out of slabs. Maybe done on a plaster bat that's pre-shaping the underside of the plate for uniform results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 That's exactly what he's doing. The process is called jiggering. It's a fast way to make a lot of simple shapes very quickly. The work is in making all the molds and the templates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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