Kastehelmi dinner plate

Morning dew that never evaporates.

Dew is associated with freshness. It is seen on plant leaves on an early morning, the beginning of a day. As the sun doesn’t yet heat up the earth on an early morning, the view of dew also evokes a sense of coolness.

Kastehelmi, a piece of glassware designed by Oiva Toikka in 1964, “freezes” morning dew on the back of a glass plate:

Kastehelmi 248mm plate. Image source: Iittala

Thanks to the connotations of dew, any food served on a Kastehelmi plate will look fresh and cool.

Concentric circles of glass droplets of various sizes resemble ripples on a water surface, strengthening the association of glass with water. This is why I find a circular dinner plate suits best with the design of Kastehelmi among the various items that Iittala produces as part of the Kastehelmi series since its relaunch in 2010:

An assortment of Kastehelmi glassware. Image source: Ambient Direct

With the shape of a cup or a bowl (and also with tinted glass), the glass droplets look less like dewdrops, which in my view undermines the beauty of Kastehelmi.

I bought a pair of Kastehelmi plates several years ago. Once I moved to Kyoto, where many confectionary shops sell agar jelly cakes in summertime, the Finnish plate sets the perfect stage for these sweets:

Agar jelly cake named “Natsu-matsuri” (Summer Festival) from Kameya Yoshinaga. It represents goldfish scooping, a typical summer festival activity in Japan. Photo by author on Jul 17, 2019.

“Minazuki” (traditional cake to be had in Kyoto at the end of the 6th month of the year) from Kyoto Tsuruya Kakuju-an. Photo by author on Jun 27, 2020.

I’ve never been fond of a particular dinner plate as much as I am with Kastehelmi. :-)