Over the past year of lockdowns, most of us have upped our home cooking game. And if you're going to put your dish on Insta it'll need the perfect plate or dish to show it off to perfection. We asked some of our favourite food Instagrammers to reveal where they got their best crockery from.
Left to right: Kana, Grain and Knot, No 17 House.
Clerkenwell Boy
Food and travel influencer Clerkenwell Boy not only loves buying pottery, but he's also learning how to make it too. Here's who he rates:
@Kanalondon - one of my favourite London based ceramicists - each piece is hand-built and unique. I have several pasta bowls and plates which are used daily.
@Grainandknot - incredible hand-carved spoons, butter knives, decorative vases and table brushes (yes, to get rid of bread crumbs). Each work is painstakingly carved by Sophie and once made, they get snatched up in minutes so be quick.
@No.17house - Documenting the renovation of their beautiful Victorian terrace house in Richmond, influencer power couple Sarah Louise Marks and Christopher Phelps (@the_adventuresofus) have launched an expertly curated online shop with marble, ceramic and wooden pieces that will transform your home and kitchen table into a magazine-worthy sanctuary.
@Pophamshome - the lifestyle extension of everyone’s favourite bakery, their online shop supports local craft makers and features handmade ceramics, glassware, linens and homeware used at their restaurant and cafe.
Look out for Clerkenwell Boy's new charity book which is donating 100% of the proceeds to Magic Breakfast to support hungry kids in the UK. Working alongside Jane Hodson and Lucas Hollweg he's secured an impressive roster of names for recipes and stories including Fergus and Margot Henderson, Ruth Rogers, Vivek Singh, Nathan Outlaw, Jeremy Lee and Angela Hartnett.
Follow Clerkenwell Boy on Instagram: @clerkenwellboyec1
Maham's spice tableware.
Ravneet Gill
@mahamx - Maham Anjum designs and makes the most beautiful ceramic tableware, you'll often see her stuff in restaurants that you love like Darjeeling Express. I first found out about Maham via Tarunima Sinha of My Little Cake Tin, I would go over for mid-week lunches and eye up all of the plates Tarunima would bring out filled with gorgeous food - gorgeous food on beautiful plates. Dreamy.
Ravneet also runs Countertalk - a community that helps chefs and front of house restaurant workers shape their workplaces into places fit for the 21st century. They offer career advice, best practice for employers and, ultimate, great jobs.
Follow Ravneet on Instagram: @ravneeteats
Left to right: My Hungry Valentine and Pophams Home
Felicity Spector
By day she works in a busy newsroom, but evenings and weekends are mostly about baking for Instagrammer Felicity Spector - she's also a founder member of Bakers Against Racism. If you want to make your bakes look as beautiful, here are the two places she really loves buying from.
@myhungryvalentine_ceramics - she makes the most beautiful plates and bowls and you can get bespoke ones done - I’ve got a special ‘babka’ plate.
@pophamshome - Pophams Home is beautifully curated and there are some really lovely, tasteful pieces available by local designers and makers - especially good for eating Pophams own pasta and pastries!
Follow Felicity on Instagram: @felicityspector
Left to right: Owen Wall, Jess Joslin, Naine Woodrow
Ed Smith
Blogger Rocket & Squash aka cookery book author Ed Smith (his On the Side is a must for any respectable home cook) has an Insta feed that's full of ultra seasonal delights. His own crockery game is particularly strong - here's where he gets his stuff.
@jessjos and @lazyeyeceramics - I use ceramics made by Jess Joslin and Skye Corewijn on a daily basis. Their work is both beautiful and practical. And so food and drink do look good in them, which is undeniably good for the 'gram, of course. More importantly for me, a hot drink from a tactile mug is a necessary comfort, and the dishes are great at mealtime – we do eat with our eyes. Both sell independently, but also through their Klei shop in Netil Market.
@nainewoodrow - For around a decade I've used ramen bowls made by Naine Woodrow. Naine founded North Street Potters in Clapham in the 70s, and is evidently influenced by a 3-year apprenticeship in Japan. Pretty gutted to have recently broken both of those bowls, so I will be re-stocking post lockdown.
@owenwallstoneware - Owen Wall is excellent, though hard to come by. You'd recognise his plates from restaurants like Lyle's and Ikoyi. Again, seasonal markets are probably your best bet.
As an aside it's also good to keep an eye on seasonal markets run by ceramics studios like Turning Earth in Hoxton – their residents always turn up with gems.
You can pre-order Ed's upcoming book, Crave, here. Published in May, it will feature recipes arranged by flavour, to suit your mood and appetite.
Follow Ed on Instagram: @rocketandsquash
Left to right: Momosan and Frama.
Anna Barnett
Food writer, stylist and podcaster Anna Barnett has the most exquisitely 'grammable lifestyle. She's as likely to share tips for perfect larder organisation as recipes on her feed. As you might expect, she has plenty of shopping tips for tableware.
@momosanshop - Having lived practically next door (until recently) to Momosan since it opened this has to be my favourite place for original beautiful pieces of crockery. It's a small but carefully curated store that champions independent producers. From unique glassware to Japanese ceramicists, to beautiful stainless steel and wooden handmade cutlery, it’s a store with regular changing stock and one to constantly pop into.
@framacph - Minimalist ceramics with delicate matte glazes. Expensive but classic in their design, Frama ceramics feel hardy and robust enough to invest in.
Don't miss Anna's podcast, The Filling, which features kitchen and food talk with celebrity guests including Russell Tovey, Nick Grimshaw, and Andi and Miquita Oliver.
Follow Anna on Instagram: @annabarnettcooks
Abigail Ahern tableware
Dominic Rowntree
Recently described as an "unflappable Renaissance man" by Tom Parker Bowles, for combining his restaurant blog Samphire & Salsify with his role as restaurant manager at The Windmill in Mayfair, Dominic has thrown himself into lockdown with reviews of London restaurant deliveries. Here's where he'd like to splash the cash when he's back at work again:
@abigailahern - When I'm not on a furlough budget Abigail Ahern is where I like to shop. Abigail is an interior designer, her Instagram is brilliant and her shop in Islington is full of tableware gems.
Follow Dominic on Instagram: @samphireandsalsify
Left to right: Ned Davies, Lazy Eye Ceramics and Alex Smith.
Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen
Dubbed "the restaurant world's new tastemaker" by Elle magazine last year, Anais' most recent work was as head of research and development for Bao, Rice Error and Xu. A pottery student herself, here's who she rates:
@e.f.davies.clay - Ned Davies was my pottery teacher and I love his personality but his work as well! His new candlesticks are awesome and obviously all his other works!
@lazyeyeceramics - You can find Skye's beautiful plates at Ombra. I love the way she plays with texture on her pieces. When you have it in your hands, it just brings you comfort.
@alexsmithceramics - His pottery style is super playful and weird. I particularly love his Black Clay/volcanic collection that you can find at Wander.
Follow Anaïs on Instagram: @anais.vanmanen
Carmel Eskell's work
Patricia Niven
Award-winning food photographer Patricia's work has appeared everywhere from Vanity Fair to The Observer Food Monthly. Originally from Sydney, she's now a total Londoner photographing chefs, restaurants and more for her work. When asked for her recommendation, here's who she came up with:
@carmel_eskell - She does beautiful work for restaurants like Jolene in London & Fitzroy in Fowey.
Patricia's latest work is a series called Baking with Chardin, with food stylist Lucy-Ruth Hathaway. Check it out on her Insta feed.
Follow Patricia on Instagram: @patricianiven
Left to right: Slated and Sarah McKenna
Niamh Shields
Cookbook author Niamh is a prolific Instagrammer with recipes that'll make you instantly want to dash into the kitchen and try them out. Hailing from Ireland, she has two recommendations to make from across the Irish Sea.
@sarahmckenna - I love the pottery from Sarah McKenna, based in Dundalk in Ireland. There is a lot of gorgeous detail, lovely quotes, patterns imprinted in. It’s just dreamy.
@slated.ie - is another Irish tableware producer that I love who make wonderful slate tableware. These small producers absolutely need our support right now and we, in turn, get gorgeous tableware.
You can now buy Niamh's latest book, Bacon The Cookbook which she says is "the pandemic perfect solution to these grey days".
Follow Niamh on Instagram: @eatlikeagirl
Left to right: Repeat Repeat and Staub.
Kang Leong
Restaurant blogger Kang may be missing his beloved restaurants, but he's kept busy during lockdown with his own home cooking and getting in interesting restaurant boxes. Obviously, they're all beautifully displayed...
@repeatrepeatrepeatclay - For me, it would be repeat-repeat bone China plates. The specific range of plates that I have from them is a collaboration with Barneys New York (from some time ago now), and I like the simple and minimal design.
@staub_uk - Staub cocottes are fab for big one-pot wonders.
Follow Kang on Instagram: @londoneater
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