Serveware
Pottery Barn, Ayesha Curry Team on Sweet July
Pottery Barn, a portfolio brand of Williams-Sonoma, Inc., the world’s largest digital-first, design-led and sustainable home retailer, has launched a collaboration with Sweet July, a lifestyle brand founded by renowned restaurateur, chef, two-time New York Times best-selling author and entrepreneur Ayesha Curry.
Anchored by natural textures, fresh patterns, and earthy tones, the Sweet July by Ayesha Curry collaboration for Pottery Barn features a well-crafted collection of beautiful items for the home.
The new Sweet July by Ayesha Curry x Pottery Barn collection is inspired by summer celebrations and embraces a range of neutral tones with pops of bold and rich terracotta for an elevated, modern look that mix and match seamlessly. From guest-ready bedding and bath accessories to modern barware, table linens, and Calacatta marble serveware and dinnerware debossed with a herringbone pattern, the collection’s thoughtful details celebrate Ayesha’s passion for design and love of al fresco dining.
“Our collaboration with Ayesha Curry has been so organic and inspiring because we share core values of bringing together good people and products through meaningful design,” said CEO of Pottery Barn Brands Marta Benson. “The new Sweet July collection showcases our shared passion for family and beautiful living in the home.”
“It’s been a dream working with the Pottery Barn design team to create a collection featuring products and designs that offer comfort and serenity throughout the home,” said Ayesha Curry, CEO & Founder of Sweet July. “I was inspired by neutral palettes, playing with clean lines and textures that can be mixed and matched in the spaces that mean most to you and your loved ones.”
The Sweet July by Ayesha Curry x Pottery Barn collection debuted for Summer 2023 on May 5 at potterybarn.com/sweetjuly and in select California Pottery Barn stores — the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, the Westfield Galleria in Roseville, and Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek. See the new collection by following @potterybarn and @sweetjuly on Instagram.
Pottery Barn, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. portfolio of brands, is a premier specialty retailer for casual, comfortable and stylish home furnishings. The brand is dedicated to beautiful ideas for real life, quality products that are crafted to last, sustainability and service. Key product categories include furniture, bedding, bath, rugs, window treatments, tabletop, lighting and decorative accessories. Nearly all Pottery Barn products are designed in-house and are exclusive to its catalogs, stores and website. Pottery Barn operates company-owned stores in the United States, Canada and Australia and has unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East, India, the Philippines and South Korea, and stores and ecommerce websites in Mexico, as well as an ecommerce site at www.potterybarn.com that offers international shipping to customers worldwide. Pottery Barn provides complimentary design services and a comprehensive gift registry program for weddings and other special events. Pottery Barn now offers products for all life stages and every room in the home through Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and Pottery Barn Teen. Pottery Barn is also part of The Key Rewards, a free-to-join loyalty program that offers members exclusive benefits across the Williams-Sonoma family of brands, the world’s largest digital-first, design-led and sustainable home retailer. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Ayesha Curry is a renowned restaurateur, chef, 2x New York Times bestselling author, producer, host, entrepreneur and was featured on the prestigious Forbes “30 Under 30” list. Her accessible approach to cooking has made her one of the most sought-after experts in food and lifestyle. Ayesha is the Founder and CEO of Sweet July, her burgeoning lifestyle brand with a focus to uplift an inclusive and eclectic array of creators through the products sold and stories shared. In 2019 Ayesha launched Sweet July, a quarterly lifestyle magazine that covers a range of topics such as wellness, fashion, fitness, beauty, entrepreneurism and food. Following the launch of the magazine, Ayesha opened a brick-and-mortar Sweet July storefront and café in Oakland, CA and its accompanying website, featuring thoughtfully created products alongside other carefully selected items from Black-owned and female-founded companies. In 2020, Ayesha launched Sweet July Productions, which focuses on creating content centered around food, family, faith and female empowerment. Most recently, Ayesha served as host and executive producer of HBO Max’s ABOUT LAST NIGHT. In 2022, Ayesha announced Sweet July Books in partnership with Zando. Sweet July Books will acquire fiction and nonfiction work, with a focus on diverse authors and women’s stories. Ayesha, along with her husband Stephen, is the co-founder of Eat. Learn. Play., an organization dedicated to unleashing the potential of every child and making a positive impact for generations to come.
Sweet July is a Black, female-owned lifestyle brand founded by Ayesha Curry. Launched in 2019 with an eponymous lifestyle magazine, Sweet July aims to uplift an inclusive and eclectic array of creators through the products sold and the stories shared. Additionally, Sweet July creates products for the self and home, from pantry essentials to self-care staples. The company opened their flagship store and café in 2021 in the heart of Oakland, featuring products from Sweet July, in addition to Black-owned and women-owned brands, thoughtfully curated by Ayesha and the Sweet July editorial team. Sweet July has also expanded to include a production company, Sweet July Productions, a publishing imprint, Sweet July Books and an online digital platform in sweetjuly.com for quality journalism with profiles, features, recipes and more content from a diverse array of contributors.
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Molly Yeh Launches Girl Meets Farm Kitchenware Line for Macy’s
Food Network star Molly Yeh is launching her first kitchenware collection exclusively at Macy’s. Girl Meets Farm by Molly Yeh puts the fun in functional with a bright, whimsical and timeless collection of products curated by Molly to showcase her signature style. The line features cookware, bakeware, kitchen storage, food prep, textiles, cutlery and serveware.
In addition, it includes the line of “parent and me” kids’ mealtime products. Ranging in price from $9 to $129, the Girl Meets Farm by Molly Yeh collection is available on macys.com, Macy’s mobile app and at select Macy’s nationwide.
“I find such joy working in my kitchen and wanted to design a product line that can spark that same feeling in others. We selected tried and true tools that I use every day and incorporated bright, cheerful colors to create a line that is both accessible and beautiful,” said Yeh.
“My design aesthetic brings together my family roots and my life on the farm as seen on Girl Meets Farm, and I am so excited to see what families cook up with these tools.”
Each item in the Girl Meets Farm by Molly Yeh collection is crafted to merge charming with practical by reimagining kitchen classics with a pinch of playfulness to help spark anyone’s imagination in the kitchen.
“We are thrilled to partner with Molly Yeh on this kitchenware line exclusively for Macy’s. The Girl Meets Farm by Molly Yeh collection brings to life Molly’s vibrant and whimsical style, designed to inspire our customers to style their kitchen and cook meals that bring the same kind of joy that this line embodies,” said Stephanie Muehlhausen, Macy’s senior fashion director for home.
Cookbook author, food blogger and Midwest transplant Yeh embraces her country life on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota in the Food Network hit series “Girl Meets Farm,” which returns for a new season on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. ET/PT. In her cozy farmhouse kitchen, Molly makes dishes inspired by her Jewish and Chinese heritage that are not only delicious but also beautiful to look at. With her fresh and tasty ideas, Molly brings multicultural Midwestern inspiration and fun to kitchens across America.
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Bed Bath & Beyond Overhauls C-Suite
Amid a Q1 sales decline of 25 percent, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has made significant changes to its senior leadership to focus on reversing recent results, addressing supply chain and inventory and strengthening its balance sheet. Sue Gove, an independent director on the company’s board of directors and chair of the board’s strategy committee, has been named interim CEO, replacing Mark Tritton, who has left his role as president and CEO and as a member of the board.
“After thorough consideration, the board determined that it was time for a change in leadership,” said Harriet Edelman, independent chair of the Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. board of directors. “Our banner’s heritage is built on the premise that when customers are shopping for the home, Bed Bath & Beyond is the perfect destination for unique solutions and inspiration. We must deliver that proposition for customers, drive growth, and unlock the value of the banners.
“Today’s actions address company performance, the macroeconomic conditions under which we are operating, and the expectations of the Board on behalf of shareholders. We are committed to addressing the urgent issues that have been impacting sales, profitability, and cash flow generation. We are confident Sue brings the right combination of industry experience and knowledge of Bed Bath & Beyond’s operations to lead the Company, focus our resources, and revise strategy, as appropriate.”
The company has named Mara Sirhal as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. Sirhal will be responsible for driving the company’s omnichannel merchandising, planning, and owned brands strategies, while also retaining her position as general manager for the Harmon retail banner. Sirhal will report directly to Gove. She replaces Joe Hartsig, who is leaving the company.
The board has retained Berkeley Research Group, a leading retail advisory firm, to focus on cash, inventory and balance sheet optimization. In addition, Russell Reynolds, a nationally recognized search firm, has been retained to commence a search process for the permanent chief executive officer role.
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KnIndustrie Presents Serving Trays in Milan
For Milano Design Week, KnIndustrie presented within KitcheN Milano space, in Via De Amicis 45 in Milan, a new collection of design serving trays, a proposal dedicated to table service and the timeless Lady Anne coffee maker in its most chic and refined version. Steel, glass and aluminum are the main
materials of KnIndustrie showcase for Fuorisalone, combined with the unique style that has always distinguished the brand.
Garçon, folded trays by Rodolfo Dordoni
In Rodolfo Dordoni collection of trays for KnIndustrie, the folded steel has a dual function: decorative and functional, that is to contain. The edge looks like a semi-cylinder with an essential design and a clean shape created by the completely smooth appearance of steel. The edge, leitmotif of the collection, represents the distinctive feature of the three serving trays, available in rectangular, square and pentagonal versions. The glossy or satin exterior is in contrast with the matt painted interior available in
different colors.
Shapeless, transparent bread bin
Glass, with its transparency and lightness, is back in KnIndustrie proposals for a design table in the name of minimalism and elegance, even for medium and small objects, but capable of catalysing the attention of diners.
Shapeless is the new bread bin in borosilicate glass, made from a folded and flattened cylinder.
Its particular production process, makes each item different from the other. knIndustrie wants to give importance to an accessory that is often not the protagonist of the table, adding it a unique design and style, thus giving value to the content, that is bread – a simple but important food.
Lady Anne total white
The iconic Lady Anne coffee maker by KnIndustrie, design Lara Caffi, dresses up in white. Made of aluminium, in stone washed finish in the classic version, it is now proposed in the elegant total white version to enrich the table with an object of great elegance and refinement, protagonist during breakfast time, after meal or at any time of the day, perfect to welcome guests in its renewed look.
The shape, which is inspired by the silver coffee sets of the eighteenth century, remains unchanged: the clean line of the body in the shape of a truncated cone is set off by the sinuosity of the ergonomically designed and heat-insulating handle, made of Bakelite with multiple curves, an ornamental element characterizing the project. On the lid the decorative knob always in Bakelite allows it to be easily opened. The circular base has a double bottom. Also Lady Anne “in white” is available in four cup version and it comes with a reducer filter.
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Authentic Stoneware for a Touch of Farmhouse Kitchen Style
By Lorrie Baumann
Stoneware from La Manufacture de Digoin has now become part of the extensive range of fine European imports offered by The French Farm. While The French Farm’s product range is centered on fine foods, it also includes cutlery collections by Jean Dubost, handcrafted olive wood utensils from Berard, lavender-scented personal and home care products from Le Chatelard 1802, Jacquard tea towels from Coucke, The French Farm collection of wood cutting and service boards, and now, traditional farmhouse-style stoneware items from La Manufacture de Digoin. “Since we do very well with housewares, I decided to bring in the Digoin line a few months ago. People have seen it in gift shows in France,” said Gisele Oriot, The French Farm’s Founder. “It has been a really old-fashioned line that has had a new look by the new owner of the company.”
The new stoneware was made in a French factory in Burgundy that was founded in 1875 as a family-owned business that specialized in handcrafted pottery and made the kinds of objects typically found in a 19th-century French farmhouse kitchen – the pitcher for the milk, the jug for the cool drinking water, the crock for the pickles. “I’m actually from Burgundy, and we still have my grandfather’s farm, and there was always a brown jug and a jar, and everything was manufactured by the Digoin company,” Oriot said. “It would say ‘Digoin’ on the item. Everything was brown – no red, no yellow, just brown.” Once those farmhouses gained electric power, the need for many of those objects was superseded by refrigeration. Cheap plastics came into those kitchens, and the factory’s business declined. The company was in its last throes when it was rescued by Corinne Jourdain and a group of investors. “Her ambition was to perpetuate a historical expertise and to bring back to former glory those meaningful culinary objects,” according to the company.
For Jourdain, that meant keeping the company’s traditional craftsmanship but updating its sense of style, starting with the addition of colored glazes that would fit into the modern design aesthetic of a contemporary kitchen. “’Let’s do some blue. Let’s do some green.’ She basically took a new look at the whole line,” Oriot said. “This was in 2014. It’s starting to catch on. They’re selling to gift shops and upscale restaurants in France. She’s making it fashionable again.”
Oriot saw the new line for the first time in one of those gift shops when she went back to France on a visit to family there. Then she found out that the factory was nearby and offered tours – and also factory sales. “I went to see the old factory, and it was like magic. There was all this clay, and she had all these beautiful colors,” Oriot recalls. “I took a tour and asked her if she had a distributor in the U.S. She didn’t.”
Oriot placed an order, added the line to her catalog and premiered it at a New York gift show. “We’re shipping everywhere now,” she said. “There is interest in the line.” The collection offered in the U.S. by The French Farm includes a Large and Small Jug, Cruet, Canister with Lid, Vinegar Jar, baking dishes, salad and serving bowls, a utensil crock and terrines like those that French charcuteriers once used in their shops. “The butcher or the charcuterier would bake their recipe in those big brown dishes,” Oriot said. “They would finish the pate and clean it [the terrine] and bake another one in it and sell it by the slice.”
The stoneware is durable and oven-safe, she added. “You can cook in it. It’s very, very strong.”
For more information, visit www.thefrenchfarm.com.
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