Dutch designers Scholten & Baijings were without a doubt my favourite designers at Milan this year. I’ve already written about their furniture for Karimoku here and their project with MINI here, and now I’m going to rave about their porcelain collection in collaboration with 1616 Arita / Japan. To be honest, they could put their signature style on pretty much anything at this point and I would love it, however this is a truly beautiful pairing.

Founded in 1616 in the Japanese town of Arita (strangely enough), 1616 Arita / Japan is one of the oldest Japanese porcelain manufacturers. The porcelain is renowned for its superb quality and fine hand-painted decorations.

The Colour Porcelain collection consists of three series: Minimal, Colourful and Extraordinary. The names refer to the amount of colour, detail and pattern used, with ‘Extraordinary’ being the most elaborately finished version.

To achieve this beautiful mix of pastels and primaries, Scholten & Baijings conducted a colour analysis of historical Japanese masterpieces. The result is a collection that perfectly mixes east with west; simple, functional forms are decorated with typical Japanese colours such as aquarelle blue, light green, red-orange and yellow ochre.

In addition to exclusive plates, cups and bowls, each series also comprises serving platters, candleholders, vases and a tea set. The whole collection was on show at Gallery Rossana Orlandi during Milan Design Week.

- A.Morris