Day 3: Today's Pick — Hand-Painted Tile Coasters From Vietri sul Mare
$48 for four ceramic coasters from a workshop on the Amalfi coast. They are heavier than they look. Every visitor picks one up.
Today's thing — Hand-Painted Tile Coasters From Vietri sul Mare
The good stuff
- ✓Each coaster is hand-painted and slightly different
- ✓Cork backing is glued correctly and stays put
- ✓Survived a year of mug-on-mug abuse
The shrug
- !Heavy enough to make a sound when set down
- !Patterns are bright; won't suit minimalist tables
We have a small house. Every object in it has to earn its keep. These coasters earn it.
I bought a set of four on a trip to the Amalfi coast — they cost €40 in a tiny tile shop in Vietri sul Mare, packaged in newspaper, no box. The same coasters, from the same workshop, are now $48 on a few American retailer sites.
They are not the most beautiful coasters in the world. They are exactly the third-most beautiful coasters in the world, which is a much more useful position. People want to pick them up but don't worry about scratching them.
What they actually are
Glazed ceramic, about 4.5 inches square, a quarter-inch thick. Each one is hand-painted in the lemons-and-blues motif you see all up and down the Amalfi coast. The cork backing is real cork, glued on cleanly enough that none of ours have peeled in a year of light dishwasher abuse (which the workshop tells you not to do, but we did).
The thing about hand-painting
Each tile is slightly different. The lemons are slightly different sizes. The greens are slightly different shades. One of mine has a tiny bee in the bottom corner that the others don't have. This is the actual point. A "set of four" that's actually a set of four individuals.
How they perform
- Mug doesn't slide
- Wet condensation pools on the glaze and wipes off
- Heat doesn't crack them (we've tested with a cast-iron mug from the freezer to a counter)
- Drop test: one survived a 30-inch fall onto hardwood. The other survived a 30-inch fall onto tile (same workshop, lucky).
- Every guest comments
What they replace
A set of slate coasters we bought from a chain home store. The slate ones absorb wine, look terrible after a year, and do not start conversations.
A small confession
I bought a fifth coaster on the trip, separate, from a different workshop. I keep it next to my keys. It holds a small plant. It has nothing to do with this review except to say: get one extra of whatever you bring back from a trip. You will find a use for it.
Where to actually get them
The shop is on Corso Umberto in Vietri. If you are not going to Vietri, three U.S. retailers carry the same workshop's pieces under the brand "Solimene" — search that and the import duty is built in.
Tomorrow: a kitchen tool that looks like a toy but has demolished my bagel intake.
Reader reactions
(5)From Vietri originally. The Solimene workshop is the real deal. I'm glad you found them.
Bought them after this review. They DO make a sound when you set down a mug. I love it.
Coaster review on a daily picks site is exactly why I subscribe.
We have a chunky-table aesthetic so these look perfect. Get the matching trivets too if they have stock.
Bought four at the workshop in 2018 — still have them, still beautiful, still slightly different.
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