Casual dining tableware: 3 ways to style a table in simple white

After the decadence of Christmas, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief – a new year is here. Pack away the porcelain tree decorations, carefully store your Winter White plates ready for next year and get set to refresh your space this January. Whilst the festive season is all about spending time around the table with friends and family, the coming of a new year is another opportunity to create family moments by sharing healthy breakfasts and light afternoon dishes at your table.

Instead of the extravagance of Christmas, make dining a simple affair. Refreshing your space with a simple table setting is the quickest way to make eating with family feel new again. The easiest way to do this is by introducing white tableware and rearranging your dining space to curate a look that feels fresh with minimum effort. Here’s our guide.

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A simple white table setting

White is the easiest color to style – its classic, calm and never goes out of fashion. That’s why every stylish table needs a crisp white tableware collection that’s highly versatile. Made from Wedgwood bone china, our white collections offer superior strength, silky white tones and beautiful translucency so you can set a casual dinner table for a more relaxed everyday eating experience. Choose signature pieces from the contemporary Intaglio collection, add a textural look with the Gio collection, or go iconic with our latest and exciting collection: Wild Strawberry White. Whatever you choose, these unique white collections are perfect as stand-alone ranges or to decorate a table for a party, why not layer with other Wedgwood collections.

Start 2018 as you mean to go on with a simple and fresh table look the family will appreciate after the Christmas and New Year opulence. Read on to find out how to create three simple table settings for breakfast, a casual dinner and a light teatime treat.

Intaglio: Contemporary, classical and embossed

With a delicate embossed surface and pure white color tone, the Intaglio collection is a contemporary yet classical collection combining texture (inspired by knurling and engine turning, popular during the Georgian era) with a modern white glaze finish for a unique look. Intaglio is a great canvas for any dining occasion, but we think it’s perfect for creating a simple table setting for breakfast or brunch.
 

How to set a table for breakfast

Breakfast is a time for connecting with family and creating a relaxing experience so setting the table should require minimal effort during early mornings and slow weekends.

Keep it simple and minimalist.

Start with simple white tableware. Choose small - not large - Intaglio plates and bowls which offer proper portion sizing for pastries, bread, cereal, or fruit. The teapot and mugs offer a family portion of tea or coffee for sharing. Next, create an overall minimalist look. This means clean and modern, white or neutral linens and clear glass accessories filled with natural blooms, fruit compotes and honey - giving way for the tableware to speak for itself. Follow these simple rules when creating a minimalist look in your dining space:

  • Less is always more
  • Multifunctional, contemporary and textural tableware
  • White or grey linens and surfaces
  • Chrome accessories
  • Clear glass vase/bowls filled with delicate or natural blooms and fruits
  • Sleek furniture in neutral tones

Gio: genuine, innocent, original

A contemporary tableware collection, Gio is of stylish white fine bone china with a distinctive texture. Its design is a combination of modern and original - stimulated by todays fashion and interior trends of geometrics and neutral tones, whilst the embossed repeat pattern is inspired by Wedgwood’s traditional hand-crafted techniques pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood in the late 18th Century. This visually interesting design involves bespoke markings where layers of ceramic are cut through to produce embossment, adding irregularity and genuineness to the collection. Gio is a timeless white created for the modern home and designed to be used every day. Tableware shapes and serveware pieces in the collection are ideal for casual dinner settings and sharing family food moments.

How to set a casual dinner table:

Setting up for a casual dinner should take no more than 5 minutes if you have all the essentials and this how to guide. Once you master the casual table, the art of layering and elevating your setting for formal dinners will become second nature.

Also known as a ‘family-style’ laid-back look, this doesn’t mean less stylish – it’s about keeping the everyday meal humble with timeless tableware and unfussy accessories. Follow these tips for easy casual dining:

Shop the collection

Whilst the Gio collection performs perfectly as a stand-alone range in your home, it’s also a perfect match with our expressive Arris collection for an understated yet highly sophisticated and elegant layering aesthetic. Why not use pure white Gio in the day and layer with Arris pieces for a more sophisticated evening look?

Wild Strawberry White: delicate, feminine, textural

Original Wild Strawberry fans rejoice! A delicate and fresh interpretation of the classic Wild Strawberry English tableware pattern, introduced in 1965 has been reimagined for a textural pure white addition to the portfolio.

Inspired by the classic print, Wild Strawberry White - also designed and made in England – is a contemporary collection with embossing on silky white fine bone china to create a textural and visual experience, thanks to the optimal composition of materials. Remaining quintessentially British, it showcases a floral design that celebrates Wedgwood’s aspiration to create a bond between nature and the home and echoes the ‘outside inside’ interior trend. Versatile across all occasions, this collection meets the demands of modern living and food trends where the table setting can be layered and adapted to all kinds of British and international culinary traditions. From spontaneous catch ups with friends to light teatime treats, here’s how to set a simple table for a light afternoon tea.

How to set a simple table for a light afternoon tea

It’s not always essential to set a formal afternoon tea experience and fill cake stands with an abundance of sandwiches and homemade cakes – a simple tea with friends requires good company and only these essentials:

  • Embossed, floral white fine bone china plates, teacups and saucers
  • An array of fruity teas or light white teas
  • Fruity light cakes such as strawberry and apple
  • Small bowls filled with delicious fresh cream
  • Simple cake forks and teaspoons
  • Delicate florals or small strawberry plants
  • White linen

Redefined feminine texture, perfect for layering

For Wild Strawberry collection lovers, the new Wild Strawberry White collection layers effortlessly into the decorative Wild Strawberry and other floral designs within the Wedgwood portfolio - with options to dress up for a formal table setting or down for a more relaxed dining experience.

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