Market: Hosting guests for a meal can be a chance for craft lovers to bring out their favorite handmade wares: Ceramic trays, blown glass cups, woven place mats, and hand-carved trivets all make a table setting beautiful. These metal utensils, from four makers across the country, connect food to the handmade and help us create memories around flavors and the company we share.
By Shivaun Watchorn
May 5, 2025
The quirky spork form is a perfect vehicle for the slippery innards of an oyster. Savannah, Georgia’s Ann Ladson Stafford makes a bronze oyster spork, 4.75 x .75 in., with “rounded tines for gentle extraction and an adequate cupped shape for the proper amount of oyster’s liquor retention” that echoes the bivalve’s intriguing textural subtlety. / $95
Bronze oyster spork by Ann Ladson Stafford.
Erica Moody’s stately Lamina cheese knives—each about 6 inches long, made from burnished stainless steel, and adorned with blackened stainless steel and brass pins—can handle any type of cheese on a charcuterie platter. Moody, who lives in Waldoboro, Maine, aims to “create a purposeful simplicity with focused attention on human connection and haptic experience” with her designs. / $455
Eica Moody's Lamina cheese knives.
Subtle pattern variations adorn the handles of Michelle Kwiecien’s Check spoons. Available in 5-inch baby spoon, 4-inch spork, and 6.5-inch teaspoon sizes, these forged brass spoons are ideal for serving chutneys and dips. Kwiecien, who is based in Philadelphia, focuses on creating home decor and objects, including vases, wine racks, and candlesticks. / $50
Michelle Kwiecien’s Check spoons.
During the lonely days of the pandemic in 2020, Brooklyn-based metalsmith Heath Wagoner found himself yearning to host
dinner parties again. In response, he created a line of elevated utensils, among them this sterling silver apertivo fork and knife set,
each measuring approximately 5 x .75 inches. “I like specific tools for specific dishes, as I believe that elevates the joy of dining,”
he says. / $450
heathwagoner.com | @hw___studio
Shivaun Watchhorn is associate editor of American Craft.
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