My Tuscan ceramic collaboration with Ivo Angel

And I'm giving away a copy of Cinnamon and Salt!

I’ve always had a thing for splatterware ceramics, which are found in various regions in Italy from Sicily to Puglia to Tuscany, and I’m so pleased to announce finally the launch of a new collaboration with Ivo Angel, which is based in Cortona in Tuscany.

Jennifer Perez, the founder of Ivo Angel, was born in Canada of Italian and Spanish parents. With a background in art and fashion (she worked for Prada for a decade then open an art studio in Cortona in 2014) and you can certainly see it with her eye for shape and colour in the unique homewares she offers. She lives in Cortona with her gorgeous little boy Ivo, vintage collector husband Saverio and their rescue dog. When she came to propose this idea to me, bringing some pieces to show me their current collection, I just couldn’t say no.

I have now been using many of these pieces since December and I can honestly say that these handmade pieces are as hardy and practical as they are pretty — we eat our every day meals off them, we put them in the dishwasher, and they are still as beautiful as the day we got them.

Jennifer and I decided on a three piece set. I think these shapes are versatile, the small one is perfect for shared snacks, or antipasto, even as a little plate for cookies, for example, the middle one I have used for everything from a salad platter to a fruit bowl to a vessel for tiramisu! And the large one is a stunner, I’d use this for a big shared family meal — for plating a roast, for example, or even a hearty soup like ribollita.

Handmade by elderly artisan Giulio Lucarini in Cortona (see him in action on the Ivo Angel Instagam account, also here for how he creates the splatter effect!), these are one of a kind pieces. The colours are one of a kind as he mixes them by eye for each batch, but they are indeed based on my favourite complimentary colours of rusty terracotta, duck egg blue and deep, deep, dark green, which some of you might recognise from my terrazzo bench top. Note that the patterns and colour will definitely vary from plate to plate!

The way it will work is by pre-orders. When you order a set, the ceramics will get made. This means these are able to continue to be made artisanally and is a more sustainable way to produce these.

Pre-order launches 1 April, and worldwide shipping is available. See Ivo Angel to place your order.

As a bonus, I’d like to giveaway a signed copy of my new cookbook, Cinnamon and Salt, to one lucky winner who has preordered a set of these plates! I’ll randomly draw a name from the orders on Saturday, 23 April. Stay tuned!

By the way, the tiramisu recipe you see here is adapted from this one; the ribollita recipe is from my cookbook Florentine but here is Artusi’s one, which was the first ever ribollita recipe I ever made (and honestly isn’t far off from the one I make now). The baccalà mantecato recipe below you’ll find soon in Cinnamon and Salt!