Tableware is given a chic spin by designer Marie Michielssen, who has unveiled her first ceramic tableware line, ‘La Mère’. The collection, created with Belgian design label Serax, eschews homogeneity for a focus on organic forms. Hand-moulded and cutting irregular silhouettes, the plates, cups, bowls and cutlery of the collection encapsulate the designer’s artisanal approach.
Serax tableware by Marie Michielssen
Pieces are crafted in stoneware and finished in off-white or dark brown glazes, hues that Michielssen has used before in her ceramic vases, here joining a bold Venetian red. Details are carefully considered in a play on proportions: a double ring at the bottom of plates and bowls offers more stability, while cups are fitted with lids to either keep drinks warm or make a pleasing piece of storage.
The tablescape as a whole is considered in a design that creates plates and inverted bowls as a single element. It includes five simple shapes of cutlery, with a sharply drawn fork, spoon, soup spoon, knife and coffee spoon in stainless steel offsetting the curving forms of the ceramics. Glassware, too, represents a clean minimalism, with three small smoky grey glasses inspired by the classic form of a chalice.
The collection is Michielssen’s latest for Serax, where she has been a member of the in-house design team for over 20 years; the two collections she releases each year subvert an everyday functionality. They are a natural fit for Serax, whose collaborations with Ann Demeulemeester, Vincent Van Duysen, Paola Navone and Piet Boon, amongst others, bring an offbeat elegance to everyday accessories.
