“Oppio: dessert plates, dimensions are 20 cm. x 20 cm.
Image courtesy of: La Double J
Design
More than just a pretty plate
La Double J was founded four years ago by the Los Angeles-born, Milan-based journalist and vintage collector J.J. Martin. Among the items La Double J designs is a line of beautifully patterned ceramics. These ceramics were inspired by mythical Milanese housewives, known as Sciure, and they debuted, to great acclaim, at the Salon del Mobile two years ago.
Plates feature vintage patterns that have been redesigned in new motifs. These plates are intended to be layered and mixed with La Double J’s printed linens. The effect is meant to awe and inspire. It succeeds!
Geometric dessert plates, come in a set of 2.
Image courtesy of: Financial Times
La Double J plates are made in collaboration with Tuscan ceramic experts Bitossi Home. All ceramics are crafted from porcelain with hand-painted gold trim; and there are no rules about what goes with what. La Double J doesn’t believe in a matching set.
The porcelain dessert plates, for example, feature reproductions of six Mantero prints, including an 18-century peacock illustration, a 1970’s geometric, and a flapper-era floral.
The bone-china dinner plates and soup bowls feature replicates from prints in the Mantero archive: a parasol and a peacock.
Dinner plate dimensions are: 26 cm. x 26 cm. and soup plate dimensions are: 22 cm. x 22 cm.
Image courtesy of: La Double J
Italian brands are known for their iconic styles… Missoni has its chevron and Pucci has its paisley. Now, La Double J has, you can say, everything! The housewares collection is called, La Double J Housewives… a name that conjures up images of 1970’s Italian housewives serving truffle risotto to their family and friends.
Image courtesy of: Pinterest
Archival prints from the Italian silk mill Mantero tapped into the very Milanese aesthetic of bold and colorful prints from the 60’s and 70’s. The 150-year-old silk mill in Lake Como is the source behind La Double J’s napkins and tablecloths, which come in different sizes.
The vintage prints feature a cacophony of colors exploding. Once the plates are layered atop La Double J linens, the effect screams, “You CAN have your cake and eat it too”.
J.J. Martin, the founder of La Double J, in the Wunderwall, the new home base of her pattern-filled showroom in Milan.
Image courtesy of: Architectural Digest, photographed by: Alberto Zanetti
Among the patterns:
The Oppio print was originally designed in 1963 by the Paris-based fabric designer, Suzanne Kientz.
The Libellula print was originally found in an 1886 volume of “The Royal Natural History”, a natural history textbook.
The Pavone print is a vintage 1700’s toile de Jouy print.
As Ms. Martin likes to show, there’s no right or wrong… minimalist is out and maximalist is all the rage!
