Stylish servingware for entertaining from now to the new year
Update your tabletop with these on-trend pieces, just in time for all the holidays
Whether your upcoming social plans include hosting Friendsgiving dinner, or managing your family's New Year's brunch, you'll want to incorporate well-designed, stylish serving ware to your entertaining arsenal for the holiday season. It's a quick, and relatively affordable, way to add some pizzazz or personality to your tabletop without updating pricey components such as fine china place settings.
Pastel palette
Call it the Instagram effect—gray-tone pastels like soft pink and mint green are an increasingly trendy way to add a splash of colour to your tabletop, especially when used in unexpected combinations. Just remember: these soft hues go well with the whites and gray pieces in many of our cupboards, but can be challenging to mix with bolder colours like red or orange.
Blush Flatware Set, about $202 CAD, anthropologie.com
Intagande Carafe, $7.99, ikea.com
Mosser Jadeite Cake Stand, from $60.49, crateandbarrel.com
Textured metals
Gold serveware continues to be popular, but in particular you'll want to add textured metal serving utensils and bowls to the table and bar this season. Textured pieces in hammered brass, for example, are less shiny and therefore both visually softer and easier to clean.
Hammered Nickel Charger, $39, potterybarn.ca
Metal Salad Servers, $19.99, hm.com
Alessi Brass Round Medium Basket, $186.02, barneys.com
Mixed media
Deftly combining complementary colours and textures, some of the most intriguing serveware incorporates two or more materials in a single design. Wood and stone are a popular partnership, but we're also seeing marble inlaid into metal, stainless steel dipped in silicone, and other intriguing combinations. The end result? More complex textures and colours and, oftentimes, a slightly more functional piece of serveware that makes the most of its materials.
Olivewood & White Marble Oval Board, $89.95, williams-sonoma.ca
Wood + Copper Salt Cellar, $23, westelm.ca
Emmaline Gold Teapot with Wood Handle, $89.95, cb2.com
Handmade ceramics
Quirky (and sometimes-not-dishwasher-friendly!) ceramics are having a moment; incorporate them into your holiday hosting, and then find them a place in your everyday home as objets d'art. The ceramic pieces to invest in right now are playful, incorporate the maker's aesthetic, and clearly look handmade as opposed to mass-manufactured—look for asymmetric details, finishes that vary from piece to piece, and hand-painted patterns.
Glenna Platter, from about $87, anthropologie.com
Texture-patterned Plate, $19.99, hm.com
Art & Manufacture Pie Plate, $99.63, etsy.com
Truc Nguyen is a Toronto-based writer, editor and stylist. Follow her at @trucnguyen.