At dinner tables and restaurants across the country, vintage plates, even the flowery variety often dismissed as “granny china,” are making a comeback.
There’s a move to homier place settings featuring mix-and-match dishes and flatware. The look is all over Instagram and Pinterest, where posts show delicate pink cherry-blossom plates and blue transferware with pastoral scenes gracing meals at the swankiest bistros and hippest lofts.
Granny’s stuff never looked so good.
“The big white plate has had a heck of a run,” said Clark Wolf, a nationally known restaurant consultant based in New York and California, who explains that the rage for white plates originated in 1980s California. “It’s probably not going anywhere, but it has some new friends and some old friends.”
Couples are changing the assortment of china they are registering for. “People are mixing and matching more,” said Alyssa Longobucco, style and planning editor at the Knot, a wedding website and marketplace. “Couples want their home to feel unique, and they like things that have history. They want something more than going to a big-box store and buying 50 pieces of white china.”