“It’s so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.” So said the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne when contemplating a new creation and its potential success or failure. What was true for the great French artist could easily also be true for today’s chefs.
Social media has changed the way customers look at food – literally – so that how a dish presents is now almost as important as how it tastes. In other words, each new plate needs to be a work of art. Food and art have always been linked, with Stone Age artists using vegetable juice and animal fats in their cave paintings, while the Egyptians produced hieroglyphics of crops and bread. Then there’s the food, from full banquets to bowls of fruit, that many artists used as the subjects of their paintings – Cézanne, who favoured plump oranges and apples, very much included.
Many would argue that cooking is, in fact, an art form in itself – and perhaps the oldest one at that – as people through the ages have striven to achieve the perfect balance of flavours, while providing a visual feast, too.
Today’s beautiful, colourful fare is simply a continuation and progression of this ancient tradition. For the chef, the blank canvas is of course the plate or the bowl on which to present their dish, and the right tableware can enhance the overall appeal – just as Cézanne used a blend of space and light in his canvases to elevate his masterpieces. What better mix of function and artistic flair, then, than the Cézanne Collection from Crème?
This range of elegant tableware offers a subtle design of white-on-white concentric bands that will bring a touch of refinement to any dish and establishment, whether a simple entrée or a rich and vivid dessert, in a pub, cafe or fine diner. Its quality is evident at every turn: the Cézanne Collection is produced from the best ceramic materials in the world. Made using only the finest European clays and a high content of alumina, it holds perfect colour while remaining remarkably strong and durable.
Manufacturers can easily achieve this strength in tableware by adding thickness. It is only by using materials of the highest possible quality, however, that you can produce the graceful shapes of the Cézanne Collection while guaranteeing the staying power needed to perform in the rigorous environments of commercial kitchens and dining rooms. Equally, most tableware looks great when you first use it. But expose it to cutlery, dishwashing and the daily stresses of a commercial operation and it can quickly wear. Crème uses 100 per cent lead-free glaze to ensure that the Cézanne Collection continues to look as good as the food being presented on it. The result? A masterpiece, time after time.
