Comfort About G & G

Founded by Paul and Valda Goodfellow, G & G Goodfellows is a highly creative design & Distribution Company with an amazing showroom in Little Portland Street. Offering a truly hands-on service, Goodfellows passion is to bring new and exciting, bespoke food presentation concepts to the UK’s culinary scene. As well as offering a wide variety of the world’s best branded tableware, kitchen equipment, clothing and machines, Goodfellows also collaborates closely with UK craft producers for totally unique products. It works with all sizes of restaurant and catering projects, happy to supply anything from an individual plate to a full restaurant concept.

Ialways think it’s incredible how certain products and fashions seem to instantly capture the collective imagination. The iPhone epitomises how a product hit the market and became an instant success, selling over six million handsets in just over its first year. Yes, it benefitted from immense marketing activity but Apple was incredibly clever in how it got us all to, not only instantly love the product, but keep feeding our love for it.

In tableware, there have been many instances where a specific product – or shape – has quickly become a must-have item. The most recent example of this is the chrysanthemum plate, which has been used by so many internationally renowned chefs. Obviously, the reach and speed of social media makes trends like this spread much quicker than ever before. Combine it with the power of suggestion and aspiration, and it makes people want to emulate their heroes by buying these products.

I think there is a much deeper psychological basis for such examples of popularity, especially where appeal lasts much longer than being just the latest fashion.

Classics are born because there is a connect with our DNA for certain things to instantly appeal to us; and then continue to appeal. I realised this the first time I ate smoked eel, beetroot and sour cream together. It seemed to connect with some buried DNA from my Eastern European past and remains to this day a dish that sings to may very soul. I think we all have likes, and dislikes, that are part of our make-up and which we recognise instantly.

The fluted/scalloped shape of the chrysanthemum plate has been part of tableware design, in some form, for hundreds of years; most probably originally created by Chinese or Japanese potters and then interpreted by English, French and German potters from the 18th century to the present day. The original inspiration will most likely have come from seashells and flowers, but versions of this timeless design influence lives on in current tableware and will continue to be popular into 2023 and beyond.

Adaptations of this type of shape provide an amazing frame for the art of plating, where delicately constructed dishes are shown off to their best advantage by a generous and distinctive rim or edging.

The most basic version of this shape is an actual scallop shell which is an integral part of dishes like Coquilles Saint-Jacques. The shape has also been a strong influence through generations of Italian and Mediterranean food and is being picked up again by Italianinfluenced restaurants in the UK.

Perhaps in these uncertain times there is a strong hint of nostalgia contributing to the rise in popularity of Italian bistro restaurants. When to a more nostalgic time when restaurant plates had coloured rim edges and/or logos.

As ever, Grestel’s Costa Nova is a go-to manufacturer for on-trend plates, with the Impressions and Alentejo ranges providing subtle forms of the design which are times get tough, people gravitate to the familiar, the authentic, and especially to food which makes them feel happy.

We have been experiencing a significant increase in demand for Italian-inspired tableware, and more pertinently to plates or dishes using this design influence. Some restaurants are looking for this shape but want personalised decoration, so that the identity is instantly recognisable in social media posts and also harks back perfect for bistro food. The shape is not so pronounced that it ‘dates’ the look but seamlessly fits into Italian and other Mediterranean food concepts. The stoneware both feels and looks right.

Their sister brand Casafina is launching the new Mallorca range is a really amazing version of this design, with strong, evocative lines and comes in two colours; a subtle sea green/blue and a sandy beige. Both are great colours for food and can be mixed and matched.

Another great range which picks up on the shape is Serax’s Sergio Herman-designed Inku range. A focused collection evoking this design device; and which offers two interchangeable colours; a greyish white and a smoky blue/green. Again, both these colourways provide a perfect palette on which to construct beautiful food. This range works as well for Asian as it does for Mediterranean menus, which shows how universal this design device is. At the high end, we mix the trend for white, with this shape in a more subtle form with Montgolfier’s Sainte Anne Plate. Just a hint of the scrolled rim edge provides enough of a reference point to provide distinctiveness without overpower the food. While Hering Berlin, as usual, adds its own unique twist for anyone looking for a luxury option, with its Evolution range.

As you would expect from a centuries-old inspiration, there are versions in bone china. I particularly like Narumi’s offering in the form of the elegant and beautiful Lotus range, which has a defined rim and plating area, incorporating the fluting/scalloping in the rim. The range comes in white or in a number of standard patterns. All of Narumi products can be bespoke decorated, so it would be easy to take the products down either an Asian, or a Mediterranean cuisine route.

The fact that so many of these ranges can be used for a number of cuisines from East to West, means that the design appeal is widespread across many cultures; probably because we recognise its origins as being from nature, whether of the sea or of the land. Whether of fish or flower, this classic inspiration of shape belongs in our DNA.

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