Wish List: Amazing Porcelain from Nymphenburg

Irwin Weiner ASID - Precious heirlooms, fine workmanship, translucent designs, and dazzling beauty - these all describe the fine porcelain vases, gifts, and tabletop service pieces manufactured by Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg, the fine German porcelain manufacturer started and still continued today by the royal family of Bavaria who still live in part of the beautiful Nymphenburg Palace (below).

Each piece of fine porcelain is still made and painted by hand at Nymphenburg, an over 260-year tradition, and the paste is also made onsite making it a unique manufacturer. Click on each photo below to see some of my favorite pieces from this exquisite company.

Bonbonniere (smooth) designed in 2009 by Ted Muehling

Belle Epoque Fish Service designed in 1900 by Hermann Gradl for the Paris World Exhibition

Lightscape Collection bowl designed by Ruth Gurvich

Porcelain Dog Miniatures

Porcelain Christmas Ornament Assortment

Lotos Dinnerware - Flowers of Life update in 2011 by designer Sebastian MenschhornVase with Lid designed in 1908 by Munich art nouveau master Adelbert NiemeyerEnchanted Forest Dinnerware Service

Small Skull (black, biscuit) designed in 1756 by Ignaz Gunther

Majolica Parrot with Mask designed in 1915 by Josef WackerleIvory Glazed Mirror designed in 1770 by Conrad Linck

Lotos Dinnerware designed in the early 1930s by master "new objective" stylist Wolfgang von Wersin

CLICK HERE to see Design2Share's Favorite Holiday Decorating Trends for this year.

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Wish List: Gold Dinnerware from J.L. Coquet

Irwin Weiner ASID - Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family - and thanks for sharing your holidays with Design2Share. In our pursuit of the Ultimate Wish List for home goods, we're taking a tabletop turn ... fittingly on a day we celebrate a holiday with food around a formally set table. I'd like to think that entertaining will come roaring back into fashion - the state of the economy be damned - and we'll focus more on celebrating each day with special friends, neighbors, and loved ones. We "struck gold" recently and discovered the deliciously bold (and expensive) gold dinnerware patterns from premium china manufacturer J.L. Coquet. Click on each pattern to see the broader assortment of J.L. Coquet collections; then click on each collection for more information on the individual piece and place setting prices.

Opulent: Samoa Gold Full Band

Mod Squad: Hemisphere Gold Stripe

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Quick-and-Easy Entertaining Basics

Irwin Weiner ASID - You can never have too many accessories on hand to pull off last-minute home entertaining stunts. A spur-of-the-moment dinner for 10? Unexpected call from the new neighbors? Don't be caught with your hospitality pants down! This fun video from Curbly/Get Nested's host Meg Allan Cole and her article on Quick Tips for Easy Entertaining should help you pull it all together - when an entertainment emergency arises - and come across like the gracious host I know you are. Like the Boy Scouts, homeowners need to Be Prepared ... and it's time to bring gracious, generous, good-spirited home entertainment back into vogue.

FOR MORE ADVICE: Design2Share also has some quick entertaining and tabletop decor tips. Watch the video that Nicola and I put together called How Do I Set a Great Table?

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The Sweet, Artistic Life of Paula Sweet

 

Irwin Weiner ASID - Creativity in daily life? Wouldn't it be wonderful to be talented enough to hand-paint your house in a fine art style, decorate your furniture with bright colors, make your family's dinnerware, and fill your own ceramic vases with flowers from the garden? If you're Paula Sweet, you're all that and more.

We were recently guests of Paula and her husband Richard and daughter Kayla in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Their house rambles on a wooded hillside and is a mid-century modern delight, with beamed ceilings, painted concrete floors, a koi pond, swimming pool, and Paula's art studio. She's fascinated with small, curling tendrils on vines and collects them on her walks through the woods, marrying them with ceramic plaques and small studies that take up whole sections of her walls, along with bold portraits of people in her life.

Originally known for her break-out wearable art fashion - the luxurious, washable

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