Get the Look: Forest Picnic, August 2008: 2000s Archive : gourmet.com

Leaf dishes add an earthy touch to summer tables. Clockwise from top left: Vietri’s Foglia salad plate ($36; plumpuddingkichen.com, 888-940-7586); 1880s Brameld double-handled green cream-ware dish ($1,250; bardith.com, 212-737-3775); 1970s Italian water-lily platter ($42.50; Carole Stupell, 212-260-3100); and Barbara Eigen’s porcelain ginger-leaf plate ($24; eigenarts.com, 201-798-7310).

Spode’s Blue Italian covered soup tureen is so generous that it can easily handle chowders, gumbos, or bouillabaisse for a crowd ($299.99 with ladle; dinnerwaredepot.com, 941-342-8242).

Laura Zindel turns her passion for the natural world—including bugs and snakes—into eye-popping tableware (oval scarab platter, $153; round bumblebee platter, $248; zindelceramics.com, 802-254-8930).

The Onde chair, handmade of bamboo and woven wicker, lends a stately air to summer terraces ($69; pier1.com, 800-245-4595).

Discarded wood is given a second life in the hands of skilled craftsmen who create freeform fruit bowls from the roots of Chinese fir trees ($95; vivaterra.com, 800-233-6011), and carve rustic stools from Indonesian teak ($380; Central Station at ABC Carpet & Home, 212-473-3000).

Early Dutch Delft potters imitated the blue-and-white color scheme of imported Chinese tableware, but the intricate, hand-painted designs—like the ones on this 1770 Delft platter—were their own ($1,200; bardith.com; 212-737-3775).

Sustainable design takes a sophisticated turn: Plantain leaves from the Andean forest are hand-dipped in bronze to make platters; tropical Balazo leaves are turned into serving forks; and leaf bowls and spoons are hand-carved from Columbian wood (platter, $745; forks, $143 for 2; bowl and spoon, $90 for set; surevolution.com, 212-255-6928).

No need to bother with a centerpiece—just fill Judy Jackson’s Metro bowl with August’s bounty and you’re set ($52; judyjacksonstoneware.com, 877-687-0124).

Bakelite flatware with colorful resin handles was all the rage in the ’30s and ’40s ($10 each; moodindigonewyork.com, 212-254-1176). The new Fantasia line is a modern, dishwasher-safe version ($51.50 for a 5-piece place setting; lekkerhome.com, 617-542-6464).

Potter Lois Aronow’s new porcelains have glossy, smooth interiors with mottled, bumpy exteriors and borders, thanks to a glaze she calls beading (side plate, $35; bowl, $38; dinner plate $70; loisaronow.com, 917-561-2854).

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