22 – Belle and June

November 3, 2022

It's the start of November as the holiday season will soon be upon us. The leaves are falling and the days are getting shorter. So as a new month begins, this week's top picks focus on new items that have been added to the Belle and June catalog. Our choices look ahead to the two biggest entertaining holidays of the year and offer some ideas for preparing your dining table to host family and friends as you celebrate the festive months on the calendar.

Handpainted Pumpkin Deep Serving Bowl

While we tend to associate pumpkins with October and Halloween carving them into scary faces and shapes, the pumpkin is an enduring symbol of Fall and that makes it an ideal icon all the way through to December. In fact, the pumpkin is a gourd that has closer ties with Thanksgiving than Halloween as it was a popular food item grown by indigenous people of North America along with beans and corn. It's very likely that pumpkin, in some form or another, was served at the very first Thanksgiving. Add some butter, sugar, and various spices and you have the delectable dessert of traditional dining tables in pumpkin pie (whether you add whipped cream on top is a matter of personal choice – but why deny yourself joy?)

So with the arrival of November and Thanksgiving a mere twenty-four days away, this pumpkin serving bowl from Vietri felt like the perfect pick for this week. Like all Vietri pieces, the design of the bowl was inspired by the work of detailed artisans making hand-crafted dinnerware in the Veneto region of Italy. This Northwestern area of the country has a particular affinty for pumpkin as it is considered an essential ingredient in many dishes that originate from this part of the country. The Marina di Choggia pumpkin is the gourd of choice for cooking in the Veneto Region.

But whether your dish incorporates pumpkin or not, this hand painted bowl is made from Venetian terra blanca featuring a hand-painted pumpkin that will keep everyone in the holiday spirit all month long. The bowl is 9.5"D x 5"H giving you plenty of room to fill it with mashed potatoes, stuffing, pasta, you name it, there's ample space to feed all of your guests. The bowl is dishwasher and microwave safe.

Foliage White Oak Leaf Platter

Look outside and you'll start to see the leaves turning colors and falling to the ground (and next thing you know you're out there with a rake and Hefty bags, but I digress). The Fall brings so many sensational seasonal rituals and we like to celebrate these happenings at Belle and June. That's why we added another Vietri product to this week's picks. It's a tribute to the wonders of foliage and this annual spectacle that unfolds before our eyes like clockwork.

Now you can bring that spectacle to your dining table with this White Oak Leaf Platter from Vietri, a bright white Italian Stoneware serving platter with a surface space that measures 15.25"L x 11"W x 3"H making it an ideal choice for presenting a variety of entree or side dish options on Thanksgiving or any day of the week. We proudly offer this platter as part of a series of shapes that recall the foliage of Fall.

The platter is microwave and dishwasher safe, it's also safe for use in your oven as a baking dish for preparing the meal or re-heating the day after the festivities have taken place. If your meal is something that should go in the freezer, Vietri has crafted this leaf-shaped platter to withstand the sub-zero temperatures necessary for properly freezing your food to keep it safe for human consumption in the days or weeks ahead. Just remember not to move it from one extreme temperature to another, always allow dinnerware made from clay to reach room temperature first.

Ginny Brass Twig Wall Bracket

Staying with our motif of foliage in the Fall, leaves are always the iconography we think of when we consider the change of seasons and the branch and twig aesthetic is often overlooked. But not at Belle and June, we cater to the imagery that inspires our discerning clientele to think outside the box when it comes to home furnishings and décor. That brings us to this conversation starter from the Global Views brand, a shelf space as eye-catching and fascinating as the items you might choose to place upon it.

We offer this memorable shelf in two versions, nickel and brass. The latter variant feels more in tune with the colors of the season though the former variant may work beautifully in conjunction with the bright colors and silver twinkling lights and tinsel of the Christmas season. The twig wall bracket is carefully detailed and polished by hand to present a meticulously-crafted piece that makes it appear as if the outdoors has begun to creep inside, bringing to mind the bare branches of nature as the temperatures have started to drop.

Let's not forget, however, this piece is intended to be a shelf and you have a surface space that measures 10"L x 7.25"W x 11"H for placing one or more items on display. That surface is a glass sheet providing durability and visibility from any position you wish to observe it. You don't have to go outdoors to enjoy the aesthetic of the flora that resides there.

Christmas Tree Wine Stopper

Looking further to December, the holidays go well with fine wine. Whether you're enjoying a glass or two with close friends before dinner or you're simply trying to navigate through the week with a house full of immediate and extended family, a nice bottle of red or white is always welcome. But you're not always entertaining and you don't intend to finish off an entire bottle by yourself, so a wine stopper is going to come in very handy.

This stopper from Joaanna Buchanan places a Christmas tree at the top of that bottle of Petit Syrah giving off a magical appearance with boughs made of silver adorned with tiny crystal lights in neutral tones. Give this as a gifr ot keep it for yourself as you pour a glass between wrapping presents under the tree.

The stopper is made from zinc, steel, and glass so you'll want to hand wash this one when you're finished using it. The rubber ring secures a tight seal so your wine is fully protected and kept as fresh as when you pulled the cork out of the bottle.

Vietri Rainbow Wine Glasses

For our final pick of the week, that Joanna Buchanan Christmas Tree Wine Stopper got us in the mood for a glass of wine and with Christmas still on our minds we thought it just made sense to choose these Rainbow Wine Glasses from Vietr. The ideal wine glass for the holidays at a price that will fit any budget, this stemware refracts light through very mildly tinted glass available in four different options: Turquoise, Pink, Green, or Rainbow. Hold this glass up to the light and you'll see the color within, for a nice complement to the sparkling colors of the holiday that abound in your home.

Available in any quantity (though you must purchase a minimum of four), the Vietri Rainbow Wine Glass is available for $15.00 each and we think its one of the best values for the money as each piece is handmade with mouth-blown glass. This makes each glass entirely unique, no two will ever be alike. For best results and to get the most out of the glasses, be sure to hand wash them instead of placing them in a dishwasher to preserve their appearance. You'll be glad you took the time to carefully wash and dry them by hand.