The Beginning of My Addiction

I am addicted to dishes. In my small New York apartment, I have several cabinets and shelves overflowing with plates, vessels, platters and flatware. On top of my kitchen cabinets my calphalon roasting pan lives happily next to part of my mother's Stangl collection, a few pieces of Red Wing Smart Set (a marvelous geometric pattern from the 50s), and a clear glass Taylor Smith and Taylor Moon and Stars cake plate. Don't even bother trying to find room in the closets - the Pyrex bowls, the Hall casseroles and several sets of Russell Wright and other dishes got there first.

What got me started was far more simple: it was a shape. To be specific, an ovoide plate. A white ovoide plate. This plate (pictured here) is the Tomorrow's Classic shape designed by renowned designer Eva Zeisel in the early 1950s for Hall China. The shape was all Zeisel's but was embellished into several patterns, some designed by her students, some by Hall artists. I have owned many of the patterns, but my favorite is the plain, white. Zeisel has said that most of her designs have to do with mother/daughter themes, and there is something about this plate that reminds you of an egg, or the shape of a pregnant woman, and that feels more relaxed and comfortable than a perfect round or square. It is, however, infinitely subtle. I have sold off most of my beloved Tomorrow's Classic patterns, from Caprice to Peach Blossom, but I have 12 of the white plates and am buildng up my collection of the salad plates to match. I love how this pattern looks on a midnight blue tablecloth with white candlesticks and silver candles - and with the white compote in the center fillwed with silver beads.

Tomorrow's Classic has become just that - in fact, Crate and Barrel has re-issued a version of it that combines with another Zeisel Hall pattern called Century. The color is different (more off-white) and the plates are not quite oval, but the compote and teapot (the teapot is pictured) are spot on and much cheaper than the originals which you can often find on ebay or through dealers. I still buy the original. This was the wedding gift of the moment in the 50s and I am always finding people who are putting their mother's bridal china on the market. I have made great friends over these beautiful pieces of porcelain. And I have gained a LOT more porcelain because of this porcelain.