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Top restaurant in Monaco serves desserts on Belgian porcelain creations.

For the first time in his career Piet Stockmans designs a table ware, devoted to the arts of cooking of Alain Ducasse who runs his restaurant “Le Louis XV” in Monaco.

Alain Ducasse learned to know the work of Piet Stockmans four years ago during a trip to Belgium. He visited the studio of Stockmans and was touched by the pure and passionate way in which Stockmans and his small team work. Especially his modern approach of porcelain and the play of white and blue and of gleam and mat charmed Alain Ducasse.

He asked Stockmans to develop dessert table ware in his familiar, recognizable style. In round and rectangular forms. High or low. In white porcelain with a blue rim or blue porcelain with a white rim. Each piece a bit different. Stockmans’ creations totally merge into the environment of the Louis XV. And the desserts of pastrycook Olivier Berger have all their own plate on which they look marvelous. The magic of sweetness on contemporary porcelain.

“A lot changes in the field of cooking but at the field of porcelain there is almost no evolution.”, says Alain Ducasse. “There for I made an appeal to Piet Stockmans. His creations show a renewed vision on porcelain which is really unique.”

Hof van Cleve

“I view Stockmans porcelain as a blank canvas for my cooking. A blank canvas which draws attention to the purity of the ingredients and their presentation. All Stockmans’ designs are contemporary and delightful to work with. No fancy frills, but instead subtle detail and a thorough focus on the essential. And that is precisely why I find their porcelain designs truly inspiring. The right plate can really make a dish stand out and so add even more to its presentation.”

“I have been working with Stockmans porcelain for three years now. Out of the current collection, Dauw, Disk and Carboniferous are my favourites. I also had some made to my own design, in order to create the perfect plate for serving a new dish. Piet and Widukind share my philosophy and the narrative I want to bring to Hof van Cleve. And that makes our partnership very special.”

(Peter Goossens, Hof van Cleve, Kruishoutem)

Tableware

Declutter the table to allow the eye to focus on the essential, and surprise the guest with a little unexpected roughness and texture… With tableware that’s entirely designed to serve the pleasure of the diner.

The large majority of the tableware items are by Pieter Stockmans. His collaboration with Alain Ducasse which dates back more than a decade has created a real sense of complicity between the porcelain-maker and the chef. He especially appreciates his keen eye and high standards. For the restaurant at the Meurice Hotel, Alain Ducasse has opted for very simple forms, to which Pieter Stockmans has added his own special touch. For example, the shape of the O’reille plate with its slightly oval design is a remarkable technical feat. And the rough porcelain of the Disk plate is embellished with a shower of gold to give it a noble appearance.

All the pieces are made entirely by hand. As a result, every piece is slightly different, each expressing the hand of the craftsman in its own special way. In the words of the designer, Pieter Stockmans: “At our studio, everyone has to be creative”. He adds: “What drives the creative process is the material and the object’s function. We find ideas as we work with the clay. We’re always looking to push the boundaries of design”. The Nautilus plate is a good example of this approach: its matte appearance, rough texture and above all its unexpectedly shaped ‘well’ make it unique. Its manufacturing process is one of Stockmans’ jealously guarded secrets.

The dessert-ware marks a clear break with convention, with white giving way to black. The dessert plates are by J.L Coquet, the acclaimed manufacturer of Limoges porcelain. For the dessert, crispy lace crêpes are presented in an intricate silver crate, resulting in an unexpected combination of noble and everyday materials.

The elegant crystalline wine glasses have been especially made for the restaurant by MD Crystal. The water glasses are by Carlo Moretti, the Murano glassmaker who has mastered the very special technique of obtaining different colours within uniquely shaped creations.

The table also features two other particularly beautiful and original tableware items. One is the butter dish, handcrafted by Mustapha Messaoudi, stone craftsman and founder of the Var-based company Lou Mortié, recognised by France’s chefs association for culinary quality, Le Collège Culinaire de France. The dish’s daringly simple shape – an uncomplicated parallelepiped – is a nod to traditionally shaped Parisian paving stones. The second tableware item is the bread tray in the form of a simple board, which has equally clean lines and features a matte finish and soft feel. The tray is made of resin and was designed by the Californian Tina Frey.

The table decoration changes depending on the meal being served. On the lunch table, guests can find magnificent copper cake moulds taken from Alain Ducasse’s personal collection. In the evening, the vegetables are placed on a beautiful yew wood table from the Château de Versailles – a tribute on the part of Alain Ducasse to nature, which has always been one of his great sources of inspiration.

Pieter Stockmans designs three unique glasses for Duvel

Artists including Arne Quinze, Daan and Stefan Glerum have done similar in the past. In 2016, Duvel teamed up with Genk designer Pieter Stockmans for their artistic range of Duvel glasses.

Duvel Moortgat has never hidden its passion for design. The brewery has actually set up several partnerships with art centers in the past, and can also look back on successful collaborations with artists, performers and even chefs, all of whom have creatively restyled the iconic Duvel glass and bottle.

Names including conceptual artist Arne Quinze, Brussels artist Denis Meyers, musician and creative genius Daan and British design duo Eley Kishimoto have in the past let their imaginations run free and honoured the Duvel glass with clever design.

Pieter Stockmans was given carte blanche – with a view to the holiday season – for the Duvel artistic collection in 2016. The Genk designer is revered among the leading lights in the world of gastronomy for his unique, sustainable and traditional tableware graced with personal touches. To say Stockmans is to say white, ‘Stockmans blue’ and porcelain. All features which can also be found in these three glasses with a clear nod to the experimental.

The Duvel designs by Studio Pieter Stockmans were produced in a limited run of just 100. Another wonderful collector’s piece to put under the Christmas tree. (DB)

Weekend Knack 07/12/2016

Top restaurant in Monaco serves desserts on Belgian porcelain creations.

Hof van Cleve

Tableware

Pieter Stockmans designs three unique glasses for Duvel

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