Online - April 01, 2005

Hop to It

Frog Dishware

Versatile little creatures, frogs. They thrive in almost every corner of the globe, can leap more than 20 times their length, and are as happy in water as on land.

But there’s at least one place they’re rarely welcome: the dinner table. Understandable enough.

Odds are good that Red River Trading Co.’s gleaming froggy-decked plates, bowls, and saucers will have you rethinking that ban.

The emerald-green ceramics are straight from Denpasar, Bali, where the owners of Red River (who regularly send emissaries to comb the globe for witty handmade treasures) buy them direct from a craft cooperative. (Meaning that the artisans who create them actually make fair cash in return.)

But back to the frogs: We’re not talking tacky, cartoonish amphibians here; each piece comes subtly embellished with one tiny, graceful motif at its very edge. As for when to bring them out, well, garden dinner parties are the ideal. But like we told you, frogs are at home most anywhere.

Which leaves pretty much any table they’re not on green with envy.

Available online at redrivertradingco.com.