Cool Stuff: Crate & Barrel Channels the Past

Housewares giant Crate & Barrel is looking to the past for some of its new tableware and accessory designs.

The company's new line of Classic Century Dinnerware (above, $10 to $268) is a resurrection of Eva Zeisel's highly collectible circa-1952 tableware designs, one of which I blogged here yesterday. (If you prefer the originals, there are plenty to be found on eBay and from retailers specializing in vintage goods.)

And the Rimini Vase, $60, and Decorative Bowl, $80, are two more reproduction midcentury offerings from Crate & Barrel. The pieces, first introduced in 1953, were designed by Italian icon Aldo Londi for Bitossi Ceramiche Artistiche and are still sought after by aficionados of midcentury pottery.

(Again, vintage versions abound in high-end secondhand stores and on eBay. Clockwise below is a sampling of Bitossi originals currently available on the auction site: Pitcher, horse, vase, bird, vase, raised bowl.)