Sixty-three brand guides to the table — porcelain manufactories, heritage potteries and studio ceramicists.
Tableware brands range from royal porcelain manufactories to one-person studios, and their glazes and forms carry their identity. These guides look at how each presents itself, with honest caveats where the record is thin.
Heritage houses
Some are centuries old: Fürstenberg, the German porcelain manufactory founded in 1747; Nymphenburg’s hand-made porcelain in Munich; Herend’s hand-painted porcelain in Hungary; Royal Delft’s hand-painted Delft blue; and Belleek’s iridescent Parian china from Fermanagh.
Studios and systems
Newer makers lead with glaze and system: Heath Ceramics’ matte mid-century glazes from Sausalito, Hasami Porcelain’s modular stacking system, East Fork’s curated glaze palette, 1616 / arita japan’s Arita porcelain redesigned by contemporary designers, and Mud Australia’s coloured slip-cast porcelain.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers a brand’s visual identity — its glaze, form and voice — as design commentary, and notes where facts could not be fully confirmed. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
The table is the design
Heath Ceramics, Astier de Villatte, Hasami, Serax, Mud Australia, Bordallo Pinheiro and Gustavsberg.
- Heath Ceramics — The Sausalito studio’s matte mid-century glazes, with honest caveats.
- Astier de Villatte — The Paris studio’s black clay under milky-white glaze, with honest caveats.
- Hasami Porcelain — The modular stacking system and raw matte clay, with honest caveats.
- Serax — The Belgian tableware house as a design-collaboration platform, with honest caveats.
- Mud Australia — The Sydney studio’s coloured slip-cast porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Bordallo Pinheiro — The Portuguese house’s sculptural naturalist majolica, with honest caveats.
- Gustavsberg — The Swedish studio’s mid-century patterns from Kåge and Lindberg, with honest caveats.
Designer porcelain
1616 / arita japan, Kähler, Arabia, Kahla, Bitossi, Bornn and Sargadelos.
- 1616 / arita japan — Arita porcelain redesigned by contemporary designers, with honest caveats.
- Kähler — The Danish house’s lustre heritage and Omaggio stripes, with honest caveats.
- Arabia — The Finnish house’s designer-led Nordic ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Kahla — The German house’s design-led soft-touch porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Bitossi — The Tuscan house’s Rimini Blu glaze and ceramic animals, with honest caveats.
- Bornn — The Istanbul studio’s colour-forward marbled enamelware, with honest caveats.
- Sargadelos — The Galician house’s cobalt-blue geometric ceramics, with honest caveats.
Studios and houses
East Fork, Kinto, Cutipol, Loveramics, KwangJuYo, Feldspar and Jars Céramistes.
- East Fork — The Asheville pottery’s curated matte glaze palette, with honest caveats.
- Kinto — The Japanese design brand’s calm, functional tableware, with honest caveats.
- Cutipol — The Portuguese house’s cutlery as a design object, with honest caveats.
- Loveramics — The Hong Kong brand’s colour-forward coffee cups, with honest caveats.
- KwangJuYo — The Korean house’s Joseon-rooted contemporary ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Feldspar — The Devon studio’s hand-painted cobalt bone china, with honest caveats.
- Jars Céramistes — The French house’s reactive-glaze stoneware, with honest caveats.
Hand-painted heritage
Royal Delft, Figgjo, Belleek, Uriarte Talavera, Ćmielów, Herend and Rörstrand.
- Royal Delft — The Dutch house’s hand-painted Delft blue, with honest caveats.
- Figgjo — The Norwegian maker’s mid-century folk-modern tableware, with honest caveats.
- Belleek — The Fermanagh pottery’s iridescent Parian china, with honest caveats.
- Uriarte Talavera — The Puebla workshop’s hand-painted majolica, with honest caveats.
- Ćmielów — The Polish house’s mid-century-modern porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Herend — The Hungarian house’s hand-painted luxury porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Rörstrand — The Swedish house’s designer-led tableware, with honest caveats.
Porcelain and stoneware
Vista Alegre, Hakusan, 1882 Ltd, Hering Berlin, Studio Arhoj, Bitossi Ceramiche and Jono Pandolfi.
- Vista Alegre — The Portuguese house’s heritage hand-painted porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Hakusan — The Japanese maker’s functional, design-classic porcelain, with honest caveats.
- 1882 Ltd — The Stoke house’s designer-collaboration ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Hering Berlin — The German house’s unglazed, matte biscuit porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Studio Arhoj — The Copenhagen studio’s playful, brightly glazed stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Bitossi Ceramiche — The Tuscan house’s mid-century Italian art pottery, with honest caveats.
- Jono Pandolfi — The New Jersey studio’s handmade restaurant stoneware, with honest caveats.
Craft houses
Kihara, Robert Gordon, Lladró, Kana London, Alix D. Reynis, Notary and Cerámica Suro.
- Kihara — The Japanese planner’s contemporary Arita-porcelain patterns, with honest caveats.
- Robert Gordon — The Australian family pottery’s hand-crafted stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Lladró — The Valencia house’s handmade porcelain figurines, with honest caveats.
- Kana London — The London studio’s hand-built, tactile ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Alix D. Reynis — The Paris house’s delicate Limoges porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Notary Ceramics — The Portland studio’s minimal wheel-thrown stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Cerámica Suro — The Guadalajara production house that makes ceramics with artists, with honest caveats.
Revival and studio
Maruhiro, Nymphenburg, Apparatu, Mervyn Gers, Cor Unum, Bison and Farmhouse Pottery.
- Maruhiro — The Japanese house reviving Hasami porcelain with contemporary design, with honest caveats.
- Nymphenburg — The Munich manufactory’s hand-made royal porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Apparatu — The Barcelona studio’s playful craft-meets-design ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Mervyn Gers — The Cape Town maker’s hand-glazed stoneware tableware, with honest caveats.
- Cor Unum — The Dutch design-and-social-enterprise ceramics house, with honest caveats.
- Bison — The Australian brand’s pure-colour tableware, with honest caveats.
- Farmhouse Pottery — The Vermont studio’s rustic, hand-thrown stoneware, with honest caveats.
Global studios
Yumiko Iihoshi, Wonki Ware, Kirstie van Noort, Anne Black, Rina Menardi, Costa Nova and Yido.
- Yumiko Iihoshi — The Tokyo house’s designed-and-produced porcelain, with honest caveats.
- Wonki Ware — The South African house’s hand-thrown stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Kirstie van Noort — The Eindhoven studio’s material-research ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Anne Black — The Copenhagen house’s porcelain, honestly made in Vietnam, with caveats.
- Rina Menardi — The Veneto house’s hand-built ceramic vessels, with honest caveats.
- Costa Nova — The Portuguese house’s coastal stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Yido — The Seoul house’s contemporary Korean tableware, with honest caveats.
Potters and manufactories
Vaidava, Stilleben, Wundaire, Marion Graux, Malcolm Greenwood, Pentik and Fürstenberg.
- Vaidava — The Latvian village studio’s red-earthenware minimalism, with honest caveats.
- Stilleben — The Copenhagen founder-designers’ everyday objects, with honest caveats.
- Wundaire — The New Zealand solo studio’s playful handmade ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Marion Graux — The Brittany studio potter’s enamel-colour stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Malcolm Greenwood — The Sydney studio potter’s restaurant stoneware, with honest caveats.
- Pentik — The Finnish family design house’s Arctic-nature ceramics, with honest caveats.
- Fürstenberg — The 1747 German porcelain manufactory, with honest caveats.
Tableware and gift houses
MacKenzie-Childs, Vietri, Juliska, Simon Pearce, Nambé, Michael Aram and Annieglass.
- MacKenzie-Childs — The ceramics and home-furnishings house founded in 1983 by Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs in Aurora, New York, known for its black-and-white Courtly Check, owned by Pleasant Rowland from 2001 and sold in 2008, with Castanea Partners investing from 2014.
- Vietri — The Hillsborough, North Carolina company built by Susan and Frances Gravely and their mother, Lee Gravely, after a 1983 trip to Italy, named after the ceramics town of Vietri sul Mare, whose first pattern, Campagna, is handmade by Italian artisans.
- Juliska — The tableware brand Capucine De Wulf Gooding and David Gooding founded in 2001 with mouth-blown Bohemian-style glass, which added stoneware such as Berry & Thread, began in Connecticut and New York, and moved its headquarters to Charleston in 2021.
- Simon Pearce — The glass and pottery maker Simon Pearce founded in Ireland in 1971, moved to a water-powered mill on the Ottauquechee River in Quechee, Vermont, around 1981, and now runs from Windsor, Vermont, with a workshop in Maryland; SBJ Capital took a stake in 2024.
- Nambé — The metal serveware maker that began in 1951 when Pauline Cable bought a foundry near Nambé Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, known for an eight-metal alloy that is mostly aluminium, and owned by the British Portmeirion Group since 2019.
- Michael Aram — The New York designer’s homeware brand that grew from a 1989 trip to New Delhi, where he began working with local metal craftsmen on sand-cast and hand-forged pieces inspired by twigs, leaves and flowers.
- Annieglass — The California glass tableware studio Ann “Annie” Morhauser founded in Santa Cruz in 1983 with Roman Antique, clear glass with hand-painted gold rims, and moved to Watsonville in 1996, where pieces are slumped in kilns and engraved with a studio signature.
American tile makers
Fireclay Tile, Ann Sacks, Clé, Mercury Mosaics, Daltile, Walker Zanger and Motawi Tileworks.
- Fireclay Tile — The California tile maker founded in San Jose in 1986 by Paul Burns with Jeff Alvord, Martin Zepeda and Albert Batista, which set up its factory in Aromas, added a Spokane plant in 2022 and sells through its own showrooms.
- Ann Sacks — The Portland, Oregon tile and stone company that Ann Sacks started from her bungalow around 1980–81, which Kohler has owned since 1989 and whose MADE by ANN SACKS tile is handcrafted in its Portland factory.
- Clé — The tile brand launched online in 2012 by Deborah Osburn, named for clay and the French word for key, grown from her Tile Envy blog into a studio that develops its own collections, including the clé guild (2019) and OUTERclé (2024).
- Mercury Mosaics — The handmade ceramic tile company Mercedes Austin built in Minneapolis from a one-woman mosaic business, known for its Moroccan Fish Scale tile, hand-glazed colours such as Marigold and Iron Smoke, and a studio in Northeast Minneapolis.
- Daltile — The tile brand that began in Dallas in 1947 as the Dallas Ceramic Company, became Dal-Tile Corporation in 1980, merged with American Olean in 1995 and was acquired by Mohawk Industries in 2002.
- Walker Zanger — The stone and tile company founded in New York in 1952 by Leon Zanger and Marvin Walker to sell Portuguese marble tabletops, which opened in Los Angeles in 1958, joined Mosaic Companies in 2021 and Artivo Surfaces in 2025.
- Motawi Tileworks — The Ann Arbor, Michigan art-tile studio Nawal Motawi founded in 1992, known for Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Midcentury Modern tiles, raised-line glazing, and designs it is licensed to make after Frank Lloyd Wright and Charley Harper.
At a glance: founding, base and signature
Taken from each guide’s fact panel. Follow the link for detail and caveats.
| Brand | Founded | Based | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1616 / arita japan | 2012 (Japan) | Arita, Saga | Redesigned Arita |
| 1882 Ltd | 2011 (Stoke) | Stoke-on-Trent, UK | Designer china |
| Alix D. Reynis | 2011 (Paris) | Limoges, FR | Fine porcelain |
| Ann Sacks | Portland, Oregon (1981 (company’s date)) | See guide | See guide |
| Anne Black | Copenhagen studio (Denmark) | Copenhagen, DK | Delicate hand-cast porcelain |
| Annieglass | See guide | See guide | Slumped glass tableware with gold and platinum edges |
| Apparatu | c. 2010 (Barcelona) | Rubí, ES | Playful vessel |
| Arabia | 1873 (Finland) | Helsinki | Designer tableware |
| Astier de Villatte | 1996 (France) | Paris | Black clay, white glaze |
| Belleek | 1857 (N. Ireland) | Co. Fermanagh | Parian basketware |
| Bison | 1997 (Canberra) | Canberra, AU | Coloured table |
| Bitossi | See guide | Montelupo Fiorentino | Rimini Blu glaze |
| Bitossi Ceramiche | 1921 (Tuscany) | Montelupo, IT | Mid-century glaze |
| Bordallo Pinheiro | 1884 (Portugal) | Caldas da Rainha | Naturalist majolica |
| Bornn | 2015 (Turkey) | Istanbul | Marbled enamel |
| Cerámica Suro | c. 1951 (Jalisco) | Guadalajara, MX | Art production house |
| Clé | Online, by Deborah Osburn (2012) | See guide | See guide |
| Cor Unum | 1953 (Netherlands) | Den Bosch, NL | Shared workshop |
| Costa Nova | c. 2005 (Portugal) | Vagos, Aveiro, PT | Coastal reactive-glaze stoneware |
| Cutipol | See guide | N. Portugal | Cutlery as object |
| Daltile | Dallas, Texas (1947 (as Dallas Ceramic Company)) | See guide | See guide |
| East Fork | early 2010s (USA) | Asheville, NC | Curated glaze |
| Farmhouse Pottery | c. 2012 (Vermont) | Woodstock, US | Farmhouse table |
| Feldspar | ~2016 (UK) | Devon | Hand-painted cobalt |
| Figgjo | 1941 (Norway) | Figgjo, Sandnes | Folk-modern decor |
| Fireclay Tile | San Jose, California (1986) | See guide | See guide |
| Fürstenberg | 1747 (Germany) | Fürstenberg, DE | Heritage porcelain, modern |
| Gustavsberg | 1825 (Sweden) | Värmdö | Mid-century pattern |
| Hakusan | See guide | Hasami, JP | Functional porcelain |
| Hasami Porcelain | See guide | Hasami, Nagasaki | Modular stacking |
| Heath Ceramics | 1948 (USA) | Sausalito, CA | Matte glaze |
| Herend | 1826 (Hungary) | Herend | Hand-painted porcelain |
| Hering Berlin | 1992 (Berlin) | Germany | Biscuit porcelain |
| Jars Céramistes | 1857 (France) | See guide | Reactive glaze |
| Jono Pandolfi | c. 2004 (New Jersey) | Union City, US | Restaurant stoneware |
| Juliska | See guide | See guide | Mouth-blown glassware and stoneware |
| Kahla | See guide | Thuringia | Soft-touch porcelain |
| Kana London | 2012 (London) | London, UK | Hand-built vessel |
| Kihara | See guide | Arita, JP | Arita pattern |
| Kinto | 1972 (Japan) | Hikone, Shiga | Calm functional design |
| Kirstie van Noort | 2012 (Netherlands) | Eindhoven, NL | Material-research ceramics |
| KwangJuYo | 1963 (Korea) | See guide | Korean tradition, modern |
| Kähler | 1839 (Denmark) | Næstved | Painted stripe |
| Lladró | 1953 (Valencia) | Valencia, ES | Porcelain sculpture |
| Loveramics | See guide | See guide | Colour-forward |
| MacKenzie-Childs | See guide | See guide | Courtly Check ceramics and home furnishings |
| Malcolm Greenwood | See guide | Mosman, Sydney, AU | Restaurant stoneware |
| Marion Graux | 2012 (France) | Port-Louis, FR | Enamel-colour stoneware |
| Maruhiro | See guide | Hasami, JP | Reviving a ware |
| Mercury Mosaics | Minneapolis, Minnesota (2002) | See guide | See guide |
| Mervyn Gers | 2011 (Cape Town) | Cape Town, ZA | Glazed table |
| Michael Aram | See guide | See guide | Hand-worked metal serveware and decor |
| Motawi Tileworks | Ann Arbor, Michigan (1992) | See guide | See guide |
| Mud Australia | 1994 (Australia) | Sydney | Colour in the clay |
| Nambé | See guide | See guide | Cast alloy serveware |
| Notary Ceramics | c. 2015 (Portland) | Portland, US | Wheel-thrown vessel |
| Nymphenburg | 1747 (Munich) | Munich, DE | Royal porcelain |
| Pentik | 1971 (Finland) | Posio, FI | Arctic-nature ceramics |
| Rina Menardi | 1995 (Italy) | Gruaro, Veneto, IT | Hand-built ceramic vessels |
| Robert Gordon | 1978 (Victoria) | Pakenham, AU | Family pottery |
| Royal Delft | 1653 (Netherlands) | Delft | Hand-painted Delft blue |
| Rörstrand | 1726 (Sweden) | Stockholm | Designer tableware |
| Sargadelos | 1806 (Spain) | Galicia | Cobalt geometry |
| Serax | 1986 (Belgium) | See guide | A platform |
| Simon Pearce | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Stilleben | 2002 (Denmark) | Copenhagen, DK | Everyday still-life objects |
| Studio Arhoj | c. 2013 (Copenhagen) | Copenhagen, DK | Glazed spirit |
| Uriarte Talavera | 1824 (Mexico) | Puebla | Hand-painted majolica |
| Vaidava | See guide | Vaidava, LV | Red-earthenware minimalism |
| Vietri | See guide | See guide | Handmade Italian dinnerware and glass |
| Vista Alegre | 1824 (Portugal) | Ílhavo, PT | Painted porcelain |
| Walker Zanger | New York, New York (1952 (company); 1953 (KBB)) | See guide | See guide |
| Wonki Ware | early-to-mid 2000s (South Africa) | George, Western Cape, ZA | Perfectly imperfect stoneware |
| Wundaire | Early 2010s (New Zealand) | Greytown, NZ | Playful handmade ceramics |
| Yido | 1990 (South Korea) | Seoul, KR | Contemporary Korean tableware |
| Yumiko Iihoshi | 2007 (Japan) | Tokyo, JP | Designed-and-produced porcelain |
| Ćmielów | ~1790–1838 (Poland) | Ćmielów | Mid-century porcelain |
Frequently asked questions
What is Hasami Porcelain known for?
Its modular stacking system and raw matte clay, according to our guide.
Which porcelain manufactory dates to 1747?
Fürstenberg, the German porcelain manufactory, according to our guide.
See also our glassware and pottery studio brand guidelines.
Part of our Home & Kitchen brand guidelines. See also all collections.