Table

Borgo delle Tovaglie has hand-made linens in a Bologna atelier since 2005, still run by Valentina Muggia and Giuliano Di Paolo; their tablecloths carry the large-scale florals of the chintz tradition, or, in the Filo line, nothing more than a single line of contrasting cord embroidery around the edge. THORRs grows its own sedge on cultivated land in Amnat Charoen Province, in northeast Thailand, and dyes it in sections before weaving - so the ikat pattern is already inside the fibre when the loom starts, not applied afterward. Siam Bronze Factory has hand-cast solid bronze flatware in Bangkok since 1954, three generations of the Smutkochorn family now; its Bamboo pattern was drawn from the Sagano bamboo forest outside Kyoto. La Soufflerie mouth-blows glassware in Paris from recycled bottles folded back into the furnace, so no two wine glasses or carafes come out quite the same. And Varek prints its cotton tablecloths and napkins with the seafood of the Breton coast - lobster, mackerel, mussels mariniere - drawn from vintage French packaging.

Linen, sedge, bronze, glass, cotton: none of it mass-produced, and none of it meant to be used alone.

Read our guides to caring for Italian linen and caring for solid bronze.