Have you ever heard of Chinoiserie? It’s a style of decoration and art that combines the Eastern and Western traditions and visuals. It’s often described as Europeans trying to imitate East Asian art and decor style and let’s be honest, that’s true. But sometimes it is a true combination of both sides of the world. It’s a way to harmoniously mix two very different esthetics to create something new that will share features of both yet be unique in its own way.
This Chinoiserie style is popular in many industries including design, architecture, decor, furniture, art, fashion and even music. But today we’d like to show you how combining the Western and Eastern designs can create beautiful tableware that can be used both for the purposes of actual dining and as decorative plates as well. At first glance it might look like each piece is made by glueing together halves of two different plates but it was actually designed that way.
1. You can play with the visuals even further if you combine two different kinds of tablecloths with contrasting designs, like a plain white one and a colorful one. If you place the plates and cups on the line where the two meet it’ll create a beautiful visual illusion.
2. As you can see this is one plate but it looks like two that don’t quite fit perfectly, even the edges are different, the red one being perfectly round and the white one with green design on it having flared edges.
3. It’s not just plates that are made this way. Here’s a perfect example of how buying one piece of decor for your home, like a vase, can be used to change things up by turning it around depending on what style you want to go for on a particular day or which one you think looks better with a particular bouquet of flowers.
4. Having sets of tableware like this is also great for those who get bored of things very quickly or those who like having mismatched cups and plates that all look different but have a similar theme going.
5. When you have plates like this you can buy pieces from different sets and not worry if they’ll look good with the rest, because just the fact that they’re all different will make them blend in. It’s kind of trippy that way.
6. It’s kind of mesmerizing how the designs on these plates are so different but they work to complement each other in such a unique and pretty way. They’re like a work of art that you can actually use every day.
7. This one, in particular, is a very contrasting mix of European and Asian designs. You expect to see the one with the hunting scene displayed somewhere in Buckingham palace while the other looks like it belongs in a museum set of precious Asian art.
8. It’s fun to see various floral and plant patterns done in various styles depending on the region it’s inspired by and the country that it’s made in. When it comes to Chinoiserie the look of this style differs from region to region and depends on cultural influences.
9. Siletti, an Italian company that blends pop art with design, came out with their own set of products in their style. They called the collection “Hybrid”. But their unique twist is that instead of blending the two styles they actually make it look like the plates are made from two pieces. It truly is a bland of different styles, design and pop art all in one set of tableware.