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