Bring the Fullness of the Italian Table to Your Home.
At Tavola Piena, everything begins with the table.
In Italy, a full table isn’t just about food — it’s about family, conversation, and the everyday beauty of gathering together.
On my travels through Tuscany and Umbria, I fell in love with the artistry of Italian ceramics — the way each plate, bowl, or cup is hand-painted with care, meant to be used and enjoyed, not tucked away behind glass. These pieces carry centuries of tradition, yet they feel right at home in a simple weeknight meal.
I started Tavola Piena because I wanted to share that joy. While there are others who bring Italian ceramics to the U.S., my goal has always been different: to make them accessible to everyday families. Not just for special occasions, but for the moments we share most often — dinner with kids, coffee with a friend, a table set full and welcoming.
This is my way of bringing the spirit of Italy home, one plate, one bowl, one cup at a time - a full table or Tavola Piena in Italian.
Honoring Tradition, Designing for the Table
Tavola Piena curates each piece and collaborates closely with local artisans to preserve the richness and heritage of Deruta while refining the designs to make them more approachable. However,
The craftsmanship remains intact.
The clay is the same.
The kilns are the same.
The hands are the same.
What has evolved is the composition.
Our Design Philosophy
The artisans pursue perfection in execution, but the Italian table itself is not meant to be formally staged. It is meant to be organic.
Many patterns are designed to mix and match — to layer color and form without rigid symmetry. A table grows the way a family grows — piece by piece, meal by meal. Plates overlap. Bowls shift. Colors converse. Nothing feels overly prescribed.
This is Tavola Piena.
Not a perfect setting frozen in place, but a living table — shaped by time, tradition, and the people gathered around it.
Discover our Product Line and Design Theme
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At its core, Intreccio is our interpretation of Penne di Pavone — the peacock feather motif long associated with the decorative tradition of Deruta.
Historically, the peacock symbolized renewal, beauty, and abundance. In majolica, its feather became a study in rhythm: layered arcs, radiating eyes of color, disciplined repetition that feels almost architectural.
In this collection, the feather is abstracted and interwoven.
Petal forms unfold outward from a central rosette, each one echoing the eye of the peacock feather — cobalt blue, yellow, teal, deep red — layered in measured cadence. Fine navy line work and precise dotting bring definition and movement. The geometry is intentional. The repetition is controlled. Yet it never feels rigid.
This is the most intricate design in our collection. It demands a steady hand and patience. Every arc is painted individually. Every outline drawn freehand. No transfers. No mechanical duplication.
And yet — it was curated to remain approachable.
The architecture of the pattern remains constant across colorways — saturated red, mineral teal, luminous white-ground variations — allowing pieces to mix effortlessly. A red charger beneath a teal dinner plate. A white-ground plate layered over a saturated rim. Each distinct, yet unified by shared structure.
A true Tavola Piena is organic. It grows. It gathers. It evolves over years, just as a family does. Pieces are added. Colors are layered. Patterns converse rather than conform. Alive in composition. Designed to grow with you.
Stratificata is built on the idea of layers — not ornament layered over ornament, but color layered over restraint.
Where Intreccio is intricate and radiating, Stratificata is composed and architectural. Broad hand-brushed rims — in saturated red or mineral teal — frame a luminous white field. A single floral rosette anchors the center. The composition is deliberate: strong perimeter, quiet interior.
The brushwork is visible. The pigment moves slightly under the glaze. The surface carries subtle variation. Nothing is printed. Nothing is uniform. In traditional majolica from Deruta, borders often carried the weight of decoration. Stratificata distills that idea — allowing color to hold the structure while the center breathes.
It was curated to ground the table and to support more intricate designs layered above it. A Stratificata charger beneath an Intreccio dinner plate. A bold rim framing a more detailed bowl. The artisans pursue balance and symmetry.
Gestuale is our most instinctive design — the collection where tradition is expressed not through intricacy, but through movement.
Inspired by the expressive brushwork found in historic ceramics of Deruta, this pattern celebrates the hand itself. Bold cobalt strokes sweep across the surface in repeating organic forms — leaves, petals, vines suggested rather than diagrammed. Dots and fine lines punctuate the motion, creating rhythm without rigidity.
Nothing is printed. Nothing is mechanical. Each mark is placed in a single motion. You can see where the brush began. You can feel where it lifted. The variation in pigment and pressure is not corrected — it is preserved.
Gestuale is the simplest of our designs in structure, but the most free in spirit. Where Intreccio builds through layered geometry and repetition, Gestuale trusts the power of the stroke. It allows white space to breathe between forms. It allows flow to override symmetry.
This is tradition demonstrated through confidence. The artisans focus on excellence in execution — balance, proportion, clarity of line. But the composition itself remains organic, like a vine growing across a wall.
On the table, Gestuale softens and energizes at the same time. It pairs easily with more structured patterns. It anchors saturated color. It introduces movement into layered settings.