Recently I spent some time looking for a very specific type of cup as a gift. Because of this and because I enjoy window shopping in general I looked at countless dinnerware designs. In the process I decided that I would like to own good dinnerware in the near future, not least because I’ve had enough of my student-style household.
I would like something made of plain white porcelain. It should be a brand-name product, at least in the sense that I want to be able to buy parts years from now. It should cover a reasonably wide range of different items, too. Because making a long-term choice is the whole point, I should obviously like the design of all the relevant parts.
Now it seems that there is a front-runner: The Form 1382 made by Arzberg (You can find it a bit cheaper than that.)
There is just one thing that gives me a pause. My parents own(ed) the same dinnerware. It’s no longer their primary service and hasn’t been for years, but there are still some pieces around. For some reason the idea of buying that bothers me.
One the one hand it’s a stupid reason for not buying something that would otherwise be my first choice. I like the design, including all the “secondary” items, and I can imagine making that the service in my household. It is a classic design that has been popular for over 75 years, so I am not alone in my assessment. The design was even significant milestone in the history of German tableware. I have no trouble justifying my preference and I would still like it even if my parent had never had it.
On the other hand, who am I kidding, of course the fact that my parents own it has something to do with it. I have looked at hundreds of designs (at least briefly) and of all those I like the one my parents have best. That’s no complete coincidence. Of course they influenced my tastes and my idea of what dishes are supposed to look like was formed in their household, even if they also own things that I would never buy. Choosing that design seems so lazy and uninventive. “As close to my parents’ home as I can afford” has to be the worst taste ever. If they visited me, I would rather tell them what a nice service I found than feel forced to find arguments why my choice isn’t pathetic.
So, what do you think? Am I completely crazy or can you understand why the thing bothers me?
I don’t think it’s pathetic. I like older dinnerware. I have two sets that belonged to my grandmother, and one of them is my primary set. The other I have saved aside for special occasions.
If you like it, I don’t think it’s terribly ‘lazy’.
If it really weirds you out that much, though, perhaps you can find something similar enough to be close, but not so close that it robs you of your originality?
I like the set you linked. It’s plain, but classy.
Great set, very stylish. I’d say go for it. I don’t think it is pathetic at all. Why on earth would it be?
Some advantages:
You know this set keeps up well over time and is comfortable to use for you. Not all sets have that. You might buy something else for a lot of money, and get slowly more and more annoyed with it over the years because the cups topple too easily and the handle of the soup bowls is too small to hold on to.
You are complimenting your parents on their taste.
If I could still buy the china I grew up with, I would do so in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, it is no longer for sale. In fact, I have scoured flea markets to retrieve some of the pieces.
You will create your own style in your home in countlesss, countless other design choices.
My mother has adored the ubiquitous “apple pattern” for decades…I don’t recall who makes it but everyone has surely seen it.
If she had less fussy taste, like your folks, I would have no problem emulating her.
I can envision this bugging me, just a bit, like you say, but honestly if you like it, why not? Your mother will probably take it as a compliment, and anyway that’s a pretty basic, classic set of dinnerware. A billion people have one similar to it; you’re not stealing your parents’ style or failing to invent one of your own. It’s just simple white dinnerware, after all.
Go for it. I get the feeling that if you don’t, you’ll be faintly annoyed with yourself for years. “Why didn’t I just get what I wanted? Who would’ve cared?”
Why wouldn’t you get something you like just because your parental units happen to have one like it?
My mother and me have completely different tastes in many things including reading material; occasionally there’s a piece we both like - but for opposite reasons; the passages I like best are the ones she could do without and vice versa. Should I stop reading books by Arturo Pérez-Reverte because my mother likes them too? Of course not!
In my family, getting the same dinnerware as your parents would be considered “a sticker” on the parents’ pieces Nothing wrong with that; heck, my brother wanted some wine glasses “just like the ones Mom has” and when she heard it she said “the ones I haven’t used in years? When are you taking them out of my hands? The sooner the better…”
In a short story by Giovanni Guareschi, he tells about how one day his wife and him started noticing all these little round stickers all over the house. Some items had a green sticker, some a red one, some one of each color. After a thorough investigation (mind you, it was a four-person household, and the geraniums on the windowsills wouldn’t be likely to put stickers on anything), it turned out to be that their children were “marking” which items each of them wanted to inherit…
What you linked to is very stylish, and timeless. What I like about simpler clean lines is that you can put your own stamp on things with creative combinations of table linens and so forth.
In my life I have selected 2 different china patterns. Each of them has been discontinued within a year of my choosing it, before I was able to complete a set.
The fact that it’s still available, even though your parents had it, is a good indicator that you’ll still be able to get it 5 and 10 years down the road when a couple of soup bowls have broken or the lid to the sugar bowl has disappeared.
If it was very decorated, particularly in an old fashioned floral pattern, I could see needing to make a different statement. I don’t think you should shy away from this particular pattern, though.
The set you linked is both classy and classic. I think it’s great. And look at it this way–if one day your parents get tired of their set, you might get it, and then you’d have an expanded set!
My mother and I don’t get along much but even I have the same dinnerware as she does. Why? Well, it lasted all through the years of me growing up, barring the one or two pieces I broke, so why not? It’s pretty, it’s simple, and it lasts. I won’t let my hangups get in the way of something I like.
I inherited the dinnerware my parents got for a wedding gift. It’s no longer made, but I still pick up pieces in antique malls, and in fact did so over the weekend. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you don’t.
I hope not–my parents had gorgeous Lenox china that I would choose in a minute. It was ivory with a gold band around the edge and a very thin gold strip around the indented part of the plate. Something like:
Nothing wrong with that; heck, my brother wanted some wine glasses “just like the ones Mom has” and when she heard it she said “the ones I haven’t used in years? When are you taking them out of my hands? The sooner the better…”