Festa

Festa is the patterned plate series — bohemian mandala dinner plates, mixed-pattern accent plates, multicolour salad plates, folk-art and medallion designs, and hand-painted dip and snack dishes. Sets of six commonly arrive with six different patterns in one palette. Sizes run 7 to 8.5 inches, priced $16.99 to $89.99.

What is a mixed-pattern plate set?

Each plate in the set carries a different design, but all of them are drawn from one colour palette, so the set reads as a collection rather than as six unrelated plates. It is the easiest way to get a layered, collected-over-time table from a single purchase, and it means a broken plate does not spoil a matched run.

How do you use patterned plates without the table looking busy?

Put the pattern on the layer with the least food on it. A patterned salad or accent plate over a plain white dinner plate shows the design at the start of the meal and disappears under the main course; the reverse buries it. Keep glassware and napkins plain when the plates are patterned — one patterned element per setting is the working limit.

Are hand-painted plates dishwasher safe?

Where the decoration is under the glaze it is dishwasher safe, and the listing states this. Hand-painted detail applied over the glaze lasts far longer washed by hand, because dishwasher detergent is mildly abrasive and will dull an on-glaze colour over a year of cycles. None of the patterned plates here should go in a microwave if they carry metallic detail.