I hosted a small dinner party for the girls in May. I know I was supposed to be thinking of recipes, how I will need to move around the furniture to fit everyone in my little apartment - but my mind kept drifting to plates.
I love and am very inspired by plates. I love looking at my plates, cups and bowls as I take them out of the dishwasher. I love picking out just the right plate for what I am eating.
I am not crazy for getting excited about plates. There are others like me out there in the world, which is the case in the show Lovejoy.
Lovejoy is a 1980’s British show about an antique dealer - but he’s a cool antique dealer, he wears hard rock cafe t-shirts and leather jacket. It’s not a particularly amazing show, but I fell in love with it when he got into a pub fight over fake antique Spode plates.
There are also whole sections of art museums that are full of ceramics. I have spotted some pretty fabulous plates in museums. If I had the gumption to be a museum thief, I know exactly what plates I might steal away:
Decorative arts are one of my biggest sources of inspiration. I’m especially plates, bowls, and cups, which have a knack for catching my eye with their elaborate designs. Sometimes I will copy a loppy leaf or a fun boarder into my sketchbook. Other times, I paint a particularly funky old plate that I find in a museum to study its design more closely; testing whether I can recreate it and exploring how it might look in different colors.
My fascination and appreciation for plates continues to grow as I get older. As they sit on a table, hold a sandwich, or spark an idea. Very often inspiration is not as instant or grand as a lightning bolt but instead is as small and everyday as a chipped plate in the pantry.
In pursuit of beautiful details,
Emery Kennett
From the Mail Room of Red Herring Factory