Real homes: the gratuitous display cupboard conundrum

In an ideal world, the fabulous Fornasetti menu plates that I've written about here before would be within financial reach, and the glass-fronted kitchen display cupboard would now be full of them.

Indeed, if I had, over the years, collated a beloved curation of anything with some kind of theme – ceramic or otherwise – then the cupboard would easily have some kind of 'look' going on. But no...

The cupboard – once my grandma's dining room glasses cupboard – is a luxuriously gratuitous space. There isn't really anything that needs to go in it that we can't fit into the regular kitchen storage areas and, simply so that it is not empty, it currently houses lots of random things that would look better in other parts of the house. Except that that wouldn't leave the cupboard eerily bare. So the randomness remains while the hunt for the right decorative collection continues. But I think I may have found something to start it...

...Grayson Perry's limited edition plates, £30 each from the National Portrait Gallery.

Each of the four fine china plates has a gilded edge and features a detail from Perry's wonderfully off-beat self-portrait, Map of Days, which you can see in full below.

In a clip from his excellent Channel 4 series Who Are You? you can watch Perry talking about why the idea of making a traditional self-portrait makes him cringe because, to him, it feels like "going back to the earnest 16-year-old in the art room at school trying to look down the barrel of my own angst".

Two mugs featuring Perry's work are also available, see one of them below, along with other pieces produced by Kit Grover to tie in with Who Are You? along with other homewares and accessories. See the full range here at the NPG.

There are lots of pretty plates about, and the idea of having things "just for best" pains me – if you love it, use it. But I'm breaking my own home philosophy here, and veering towards a slowly-built collection of art that happens to be on plates – lending it a kitchen-y theme. Sturdier plates can still be interesting, but they'll just have a different function. Artist plates are a nice way to begin building an art collection on a budget and Perry could be starting something in the kitchen... My other idea, inspired by a helpful tweet from the Balcony Gardener, is to turn the cupboard into an indoor greenhouse and stuff it with interesting plants. Perhaps I'll do both... watch this space.

If you like unusual plates, check out some other favourite designs I've featured here, including ceramics by: La Kinska, Louise Wilkinson, Melody Rose, vintage Ironstone and Evie Lotts. You might also like the monochrome Day Birger range at Rockett St George, which I also have my eye on.

Object of the day: old French bowls and plates from The Peanut vendor

These beautiful plates range in date from the 1930s to the 1950s and are available from The Peanut Vendor (whose owners' wonderful home I wrote about AGES ago, here).

The online and actual shop (in north London) has a big batch of these beauties fresh in... for just £4 a-piece.

Affordable enough to start a little collection...

Check them out at The Peanut Vendor, and get in quick as the shop is shutting for a little holiday on Sunday.

Post by Kate

Object of the day... Louise Wilkinson plates

These plates are just two from a small collection by designer, Louise Wilkinson. 

I'd like them all, but these – marginally – are my two favourites.

Nice aren't they? In dinner plate size they cost £19.50 each. Below are a couple of the sweet side plates, priced at £14.50.

Louise launched her range at Liberty in 2012 and will be exhibiting at Tent London later this year. See more and buy at Louisewilkinson.co.uk.

Object of the day: M&S melamine

You could of course use these bright and beautiful melamine plates for a picnic, as intended, but wouldn't they look wonderful hung on a drab wall?

They are eminently affordable and available in the Summer range at Marks and Spencer.

Rio Dinner Plate, £3.50

If you follow me on Pinterest, you may already have spotted a mini gallery of plates on walls. If not, and you're after some inspiration, do take a look.

Rio side plate, £3

There is more in the range – not so hangable, alas – but too good to get out only for the summer season.

Rio Flower Tray, £9.50

Rio Cereal Bowl, £3

Introducing... Pen & Gravy

At the weekend I walked through my local market, to-do list in pocket and not intending to stop – but then I got drawn into a little stall selling the most beautiful, colourful graphic patterned plates – and also striking hand-drawn fabric lampshades with the same repetitive designs. 

Turns out the seller, also the designer and maker, is Jamie – aka Pen & Gravy (pictured at his stall, below) – and, in his own words, he "draws on lampshades and plates", as well as selling screen-printed versions of his designs as wall art.

The patterns remind me a little of the West African wax prints I'm often found banging on about enthusiastically here, or those geometric colouring books you used to be able to get – anyone remember what those were called?* Many a rainy childhood Sunday was eased with one of those and some felt-tips.


Visit the Pen & Gravy blog to see more of Jamie's work, and you can buy some of it via his Etsy shop, though, as Jamie warned me on Saturday, there isn't much stock online. Best thing is if you like any of the things in the pictures on his blog, just email him and he'll either dig one out or knock you one up bespoke styles. Plates start at £20 and A3 prints start at £10. 


* A helpful reader knows exactly the ones - see comments section to find out if you're interested

Urban ceramics and synchronised swimmers

I'm not big on watching sport – though there will be some bits of the Olympics I know I'll enjoy: generally the bits that your average sports fan overlooks. Like the gymnastics, especially that thing they do with the balls and ribbons, and the synchronised swimming. 

It's probably all about aesthetics (which tells you all you need to know about my prowess at competitive sports). And there's something about the symmetry of the latter that makes it so visually pleasing. Which is just what artist, Alice Mara thought when she came up with the idea for this excellent plate after getting herself a ticket to this weird and watery Olympic event.

Swimmer side plate, £24

Cavaliero Finn – purveyors of fine yet affordable art from established as well as emerging talent – are selling this alongside some of her pieces with the same theme, including a sweet milk jug, sugar pot and cup and saucer (and it's worth reading the back-story there about how the work was created with the help of a friend and a 1950s swimming hat from eBay). 

When I checked out Alice's own website I loved some of her other designs too, lots heavily influenced by her London life – she lives in Walthamstow – and inspired by the urban landscape. Like 'lipstick stall' plate, 'fruit and veg' plate, and my personal favourite, 'building' cup and saucer, below which, as she says herself, are "imbued with humour, colour and surrealism".

Kinda weird, huh? And probably all a bit love-or-hate. But I definitely feel the former. Definitely conversation starters...

And, finally, couldn't resist this trinket box, £25, inspired by Alice's local dog track.