Prouna
At the New York Tabletop Show earlier this spring, Prouna celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Neobe pattern. The pattern, part of the Classic collection, was originally created for tea sets; this year the company introduced dinnerware. The dinnerware, available as a five-piece place setting, has elements of a garden trellis, complementing the tea and coffee set, which features a sculptural swan design in 24k gold on the lid of the coffee pot and cups. The swan is a symbol of eternity, everlasting love, loyalty and determination, while the intertwining garden trellis symbolizes togetherness, and thus Prouna is positioning the pattern as ideal for bridal collections. prouna.com
Royal Albert
Royal Albert celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Old Country Roses dinnerware pattern with the introduction of several new collections and licensed products. New to the line is Old Country Roses Christmas Tree, Old Country Roses flatware, holiday ornaments, seasonal mugs in a tin sporting different floral motifs, and new stationery. Michael Craig, group vice president at parent company WWRD Americas, said, “The spring tabletop market was extremely positive and re-energizing with the exciting and colorful New Country Roses introductions targeting a younger demographic, taking the consumer’s love of nostalgia and launching a playful mix-and-match, multi-category collection. By branching out to different product segments and categories...we position ourselves to reach collectors and added channels of distribution while bringing the Royal Albert name to a new group followers for the many years ahead.” royaldoulton.com
Wilton Armetale
The new Chili Pepper collection by Wilton Armetale includes four sculpted alternative metal pieces in the shapes of various peppers. Designed by Stan Baskett, Chili Peppers complements the company’s well-performing Texas, Cowboy and Lasso lines and adds a little spice to the group, said Karen Schultz, national sales manager. Wilton was looking for a themed collection that would work in broad areas of the country, while Baskett expressed interest in doing something with chili peppers because of his love of Mexican food and the inspiration of the pepper as a cooking staple. “We are moving our target retailer and customer more and more to the gourmet food and housewares side and this helps us follow suit,” Schultz said. “The sombrero was an addition after we were done with the peppers, and we based that on the huge success of our cowboy hat chip & dip. We thought ‘why not?’ and Stan did an outstanding job of capturing the traditional look in metal. No easy task when you don’t add color or sequins!” The collection was very well received at the Tabletop Show and will debut to independent/specialty retailers at the summer gift shows, according to Schultz. “The sombrero was the highlight for most accounts, definitely a show piece. They liked the figurative nature of the peppers and the usefulness of the pieces. We are confident our smaller independent retailers will be just as excited about the collection.” armatele.com
TTU
Earlier this spring TTU signed a license agreement with greeting card designer Kathy Davis for a line of handpainted and decaled ceramic dinnerware and accessories. The collection offers a mix of pattern on pattern, such as Happiness, shown here, and lends a joyful, feminine and soft look to TTU’s assortment. “[Davis] has an instinctive understanding of how to deeply touch the hearts of a vast number of Americans with her words and paintings,” said Rami Izadyar, brand manager. “Her paintings are playful, airy and always full of joy with a touch of femininity that was missing in our other collections. So with all of these combined, her collection has a very distinct personality. She is a master of mixing patterns to create delightful collections that are up to date, visually interesting without being overwhelming to the eye.” Dinnerware will be offered as four-piece place settings, four-packs and open stock and there will be two levels of product—better and best. Accessories will be both open stock and boxed. TTU has also added the textile right to its licensing agreement with Davis and will create a line of kitchen linens such as placemats, aprons, oven mitts and tablecloths that will refer back to the dinnerware.
ttucorp.com