Set of 8 vintage white porcelain serving bowls by Atelier-A

These eight handmade porcelain serving bowls from Atelier-A are among the most personal pieces in Patricia's collection at Chanteduc, her farmhouse and cooking school in Vaison-la-Romaine — made to order by her favourite potters in Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, the small Gard village in the southern Rhône valley that has been a centre of ceramic craft since the Middle Ages. The village's tradition of working with local clay stretches back to Roman times, and today dozens of working potters occupy studios along its stone streets. Atelier-A is among the most respected of them. Each bowl is thrown in porcelain: the exterior is left in a soft matte white, worked with fine horizontal striated lines that catch the light and give the surface a tactile, almost textile quality. The potter's signature is inscribed vertically across these ridges — a deliberate compositional choice that makes the mark part of the decoration. Inside, the glaze is smooth and luminous, bright white against the restrained exterior. The forms are gently irregular in the way only handmade work can be, and the bowls nest beautifully when stacked. Matching salad bowls complete the collection. At Chanteduc, these bowls have been central to Patricia's table — as well suited to a simple green salad as to a composed dish for a cooking class. Generous, unfussy and completely assured, they bring the same confidence to any table, contemporary or traditional.

Note: Some very minor chips, hairline cracks and wear but entirely useable.