Flatware, Tools of Ambiance

You’ve picked out your favorite starters and have been slicing away at fennel and farm fresh peaches for a salad, the main dish is in the oven and cooking slower than expected. The first bottle of wine is decanting and friends, guests, loved ones are arriving soon to your promised home-cooked meal. Just enough candles lit, the art of dimming landing somewhere between perfectly sexy lighting and inability to see food. The setting is all part of the ambiance from the fresh flowers down to the stemware, plates, table runner, and forks and knives. Setting the table is in some ways art, an act for everyone seated to feel at ease, to feel special.

At our house, we have a mélange of passed down Laguiole steak knives, an assortment of one-sized cutlery, a few mismatch forks bought from the sales bin at Fishs Eddy to total eight and tucked away in boxes are passed down silver which we’ve yet to sort.

As Andrew and I create our home in Brooklyn, our place for private evening meals or large group dinners, we’ve eyed the flatware that we would imagine using for our dream urban dwelling. Below, some tools of the ambiance that have caught our eye.