10 Best Italian Dinnerware Brands
A plate set is essential to give a touch of elegance and style to the table and enhance the dishes served. In fact, to amaze one’s guests, sometimes it is not enough to cook tasty dishes, but it is also necessary to use the right accessories, capable of giving originality and refinement to the set table.
On the market there are different types of plate sets, made of different materials, shapes and designs, each intended for a different occasion of use: there are those in porcelain, more resistant and ideal for everyday use, those in glass or in ceramics, more precious, refined and perfect for important occasions, and more. Precisely for this reason, before buying one you have to consider not only the materials, but also the shape, the design, the occasion of use, the number of pieces of the service and the brand.
When evaluating the purchase of a plate set, especially if it is a gift for a person who loves to cook, quality must be taken into consideration first (it must last over time and not splinter at the first opportunity); the design (it must be aesthetically beautiful because it will also make our meals more enjoyable); the price (it must have an excellent value for money); use (is it a set of dishes to be used daily or to be used only when there are guests?); functionality (some plate sets are dishwasher safe and others not. Some are microwaveable and others not); interchangeability (it must be easy to replace a broken plate, otherwise you are left with a set of dishes for 5 for example, unusable during a dinner for 6 people. For this reason it is better to choose very famous brands and sets of dishes that rarely go out of production and often are sold in bulk).
There are some made in Italy brands that are very popular because they offer all the features a good plate set should have.
The Italian dinnerware brands produce flat plates, soup plates, fruit plates, salad bowls, bowls, oven plates, trays, cups, jugs, plates for pizza, as well as services for aperitifs and single portions, always characterized by porcelain quality, strength and design for a perfect combination between elegance and practicality in use and washing.
Below we have listed the best Italian dinnerware brands trying to satisfy all needs, both in terms of quality/price ratio and in terms of intended use and style. Let’s see them together.
Alessi
In 1921, Giovanni Alessi and his brother founded Fratelli Alessi Omegna, a workshop for processing the brass plate with a foundry. The first production of Alessi is inspired by the canons dictated by the most prestigious household items companies of the early twentieth century, with particular attention to the Austrian and English factories.
Giovanni has a real obsession for quality and a well-done job: his products immediately become known for their great executive care and perfect finish. Alessi’s research is oriented towards a new simplicity and also towards the search for highly expressive and decorative forms.
Alessi has gradually evolved, becoming a leading exponent of the “Italian design factories,” capable of mediating among the most interesting expressions of international creativity and the public, society, and the market. Its mission is to transform this creativity into concrete objects that satisfy the public’s imagination. Namely to make the ordinary extraordinary. Creating interesting everyday objects where aesthetics, functionality, and quality find the right balance in an emotional dimension that fascinates and surprises.
Tognana
Pastel shades, bold colors or the classic white; basic or captivating lines; classic, modern or contemporary design atmospheres. Each Tognana dinner service declines tradition through renewal, giving a personal touch to the table.
Materials such as porcelain, stoneware, ceramic, or slate guarantee a quality design. Tognana plate sets satisfy every style and practicality need, with flat and soup plates, tureens, salad bowls, and dessert plates. There is no shortage of colored and decorated placemats to be combined according to personal taste and the most current trends. The company was inaugurated in 1946, quickly passing from majolica to porcelain, made with traditional firing, sintering, and vitrification systems.
The company soon became one of the largest national producers of high-quality porcelain tableware. Today the Tognana brand unquestionably occupies the position of a market leader. It has also acquired international popularity by offering a range of products with very high-quality performance, where traditional craftsmanship meets innovation, linked to technological research and distribution logic.
Richard Ginori
For over two centuries the Ginori Manufacture has cultivated a passion for beauty. The history of the Ginori Manufacture begins in Doccia, a stone’s throw from Florence, when the Marquis Carlo Andrea Ginori started a porcelain factory destined to become a style icon all over the world.
Today, the tradition of the Florentine maison is always the same: transforming porcelain into pure beauty. Tradition and manufacturing excellence intertwine in the name of timeless beauty. The Manufacture renews itself by relying on the experience of the greatest Italian designers of the moment: Franco Albini, Franca Helg, Antonio Piva, Sergio Asti, Achille Castiglioni, Gabriele Devecchi, Candido Fior, Gianfranco Frattini, Angelo Mangiarotti, Enzo Mari and Aldo Rossi. In 2013, the Ginori Manufacture was acquired by Gucci. In 2016, Ginori 1735 passes under the direct coordination of the Kering Group, while the creative direction is entrusted to a team of designers.
Today Ginori 1735 is a symbol of excellence in Italy and in the world in the artistic manufacture of porcelain, because it is able to combine craftsmanship and creativity.
H&H
H&H Lifestyle is a young brand born from the need of the Pengo family to have within their company a brand that is attentive to new style trends, capable of satisfying the demands of a varied and demanding clientele in terms of design, quality, style and price.
The search for products is constant throughout the year and is carried out by the management that is responsible for defining the materials, the color chart of realization and the decorations according to an Italian and international taste, to easily adapt to the different styles of the houses of refined and elegant by H&H Lifestyle. Careful and punctual work, done with passion and dedication. The ability to satisfy the customer’s needs derives from the great experience gained over the years by the company to which it belongs, Pengo Spa, founded in 1953 in Bassano del Grappa and specialized, since then, in the creation, import and distribution of tableware, cooking, gifts and free time.
A consolidated group able to offer products in line with the changing needs of an increasingly evolved market, which requires to continually improve its range of products, and to offer articles that are increasingly attentive to quality and accessible in price.
Bormioli
The Bormioli Rocco is a company founded in 1825, now divided into two business areas: Tableware and Glass block; today, it has 3 production plants, 2 decoration ateliers, 6 commercial branches and 6 single-brand stores. Bormioli Rocco exports its products to more than 100 Countries worldwide and represents one of the most important glass companies on the international scene.
Bormioli knows how to bring consumers and companies closer by customizing everyday tools. They enhance the brands of companies by researching together with the customer the most suitable project to communicate through the glass.
Bormioli has become an important and consolidated Italian industrial reality in the glass world and has an important international presence. A company that knows how to give the table a strong personality and knows how to create a unique atmosphere in every room without sacrificing functionality.
Royale
Despite the name, Royale might suggest something else, is a Made in Italy brand, which was born in 1986 to satisfy the great passion for cooking and design. The sets of dishes, the accessories for the oven, and for the buffet are all rigorously in porcelain and made with attention to every detail.
Among the best services of the brand is the Royale Made to Measure Collection, the result of craftsmanship completely manufactured in Italy, which focuses on the shapes and colors inside the plates. Among the most loved and used by world-famous chefs, Royale services bring Italian design to the table in its maximum refinement.
For more than thirty years, Royale has been the undisputed protagonist at the table alongside the best chefs in the world, always ready to achieve excellence day after day and to satisfy every single need. Royale is today a world leader in the production, exclusively Made in Italy, of porcelain items for the table, buffet, and oven.
Pinto di Vietri
Vietri ceramics are among the finest in the world. This town on the Amalfi coast is in fact well known for the art of hand decorating plates, unique and personalized pieces, rigorously Made in Italy, made by the skilled hands of expert artists. It is possible to buy complete services or single pieces, to give a touch of uniqueness to your table.
Ceramica Pinto products become objects of furniture to decorate a small kitchen wall with a piece of elite craftsmanship. The Vietri ceramic is a product of the highest quality craftsmanship.
Ceramica Pinto offers its customers all the majolica tiles found in the 400 square meter exhibition in the heart of the historic center of Vietri sul Mare, and in their online showcase. Only majolica.
Only authentic Vietri ceramic products, made in the 1000 square meters of surface intended for processing, always in the heart of Vietri sul Mare: tiles, but also small productions of table and furnishing ceramics.
L’Abitare Milano
L’Abitare blends Italian style with the creativity of designers from all over the world. The brand offers services that combine modernity and a touch of elegance, always present.
The L’Abitare collections are refined and versatile, they take up the history of Italian architecture and bring it to the table. An example is the L’Abitare Seasons series with plates and cups: the former with a more discreet design while the latter a riot of colors. And so the list goes on and on, because each piece of the brand makes the table a creative and elegant environment, which leaves no doubt about the high quality and refinement of each product of the brand.
L’Abitare was born in Milan, thanks to the work and creativity of skilled designers, in an attempt to offer a production of porcelain objects in their purest and most poetic declination. L’Abitare means first of all “living” everyday objects and transforming them into the frame of one’s personality. Despite the craftsmanship of the production, L’Abitare products are highly resistant, long-lasting and easy to clean.
Cartaffini
Long-life plates are the name that best describes the extraordinary durability of Cartaffini tableware. The resistance to shocks and washing cycles, the shiny surface like porcelain, and the absolute stability of colors and decorations make Cartaffini tableware particularly suitable for use in many sectors: boating, childhood, collective catering (school, hospital, corporate, etc.), home, community and free time. For a young, dynamic, and refined table suitable for any occasion, Cartaffini designs and develops original collections and decorated lines.
Captivating collections that express the passion of this company for the art of the table. From classic lines to the most innovative decorations, original graphics and colors blend with technical qualities, creating a perfect alchemy between aesthetics and functionality. On a boat, in the mountains, at home, or in the garden, the refined Cartaffini design creates a welcoming and elegant atmosphere on the table. The resistance to shocks and washing cycles, the shiny surface like porcelain, and the absolute stability of the decorations make the Cartaffini tableware particularly suitable for the nautical sector.
Bitossi Home
Bitossi Home creates products that are attentive to design and the evolution of being together. A dialogue that involves young designers and creative collaborations to give shape to projects that are always original, such as the eclectic “Tavola Scomposta”.
Shapes, styles, and textures contaminate each other by breaking the mold but keeping alive the link with the past that emerges in the collections as a slight retro accent. All the collections, designed to enhance experiences gained across the board, from graphics to fashion, from design to art, bring the right balance between poetry and irony to the “mise en place.”
Bitossi is a historical identity of Italian manufacturing, present since the second half of the nineteenth century in the area of Montelupo Fiorentino in Tuscany. The Bitossi Ceramiche factory has been in the family for five generations and has been located in the same location since 1921. 2014 the company was included in the Register of Italian Historical Companies.
Bitossi production up to the end of the 1940s reflects the traditional taste linked to local production and then evolved into unique creations exported all over the world that still represent the excellence of Made in Italy today.
