BRAND HIGHLIGHT

Arita porcelain, reconsidered through three distinct design languages: TY Standard, S&B Colour Porcelain and MANZ Contour.

A Guide to 1616 / arita japan: TY Standard, S&B Colour Porcelain and MANZ Contour

1616 / arita japan brings more than four centuries of Arita porcelain-making knowledge into contemporary daily life. Rather than reproducing the decorative language traditionally associated with Arita ware, the brand works with designers from Japan and Europe to explore how porcelain can respond to the way we eat, drink and live today.

At JDV, our 1616 / arita japan collection centres on three particularly different expressions of this approach: TY Standard by Teruhiro Yanagihara, S&B Colour Porcelain by Scholten & Baijings, and MANZ Contour by Richard Manz.

They share the same foundation in Arita, but arrive at the table from very different directions.

TY Standard — An Everyday Foundation

Designed by Teruhiro Yanagihara, TY Standard is the most expansive and adaptable of the three collections at JDV. The collection begins with use. Plates, bowls and cups are reduced to clear proportions and restrained forms, allowing the porcelain to move easily between different meals and different kinds of food. A piece does not dictate how it should be used; it leaves room for the table around it. The thinness and precision of the porcelain give TY Standard a refined presence, but the collection is not designed to feel precious. A TY Standard Palace Plate can move from toast or fruit in the morning to cake, small dishes or dessert later in the day. Round Plates, Deep Plates and bowls extend the same language into everyday meals and shared food. For JDV, this flexibility is what makes TY Standard such a natural starting point. It feels considered without requiring the rest of the table to follow. Choose TY Standard if you want to build an everyday tableware foundation that can grow gradually over time.

TY Standard porcelain tableware by 1616 arita japan with dessert

S&B Colour Porcelain cups by 1616 arita japan on a metal tray

S&B Colour Porcelain — Colour as Part of the Form

Where TY Standard begins with proportion and utility, S&B Colour Porcelain approaches Arita porcelain through colour. Created by Dutch designers Scholten & Baijings, the collection developed from their study of Arita ceramics and its history of colour. Pale tones, fine lines, layered surfaces and stronger accents are used not simply as decoration, but as part of the composition of each object. A plate may be divided by two colours. A line may trace its edge. A mug may use a single soft tone, while another piece combines several shades across the same surface. This means S&B does not need to be purchased as a complete matching set. A single S&B Colour Porcelain Mug can introduce colour beside plain tableware, while a larger S&B Colour Porcelain Plate can become the visual centre of a setting. At JDV, we like S&B precisely because colour can be added gradually. One piece can change a table without requiring everything around it to match. Choose S&B Colour Porcelain if you want colour to become part of the table's composition.

MANZ Contour — The Vessel Reduced to Proportion

MANZ Contour takes a more concentrated approach.

The collection is based on cup designs by Danish ceramicist Richard Manz and brings Scandinavian principles of reduction and proportion together with Arita porcelain craftsmanship.

Rather than forming a broad dinnerware system, MANZ Contour focuses on the vessel itself: the transition from rim to body, the balance of its volume, the relationship between glazed and more natural surfaces, and the way the cup sits in the hand.

At JDV, we carry the MANZ Contour Tea Cup and MANZ Contour Hojicha Cup. Their character comes from details that are easy to overlook at first glance but become more noticeable through repeated use.

MANZ therefore feels very different from TY and S&B.

TY asks how tableware can support a wide range of everyday meals.

S&B asks how colour can participate in the table.

MANZ asks a more focused question: What makes a single vessel feel right to use?

TY Standard porcelain plate by 1616 / arita japan in an everyday table setting

Three Collections, Three Design Languages

Although TY Standard, S&B Colour Porcelain and MANZ Contour all belong to 1616 / arita japan, they should not be understood as variations of the same collection. TY Standard is about utility and proportion. It offers the broadest system of plates, bowls and cups and is the easiest collection to build into a complete everyday table. S&B Colour Porcelain is about colour and composition. Its pieces can stand alone or be mixed, allowing colour to enter gradually rather than through a fully coordinated set. MANZ Contour is about the vessel itself. The collection is smaller and more concentrated, asking the user to notice proportion, surface and tactility through repeated use. The difference is not only visual. Each collection proposes a different way of living with porcelain.

Which 1616 / arita japan Collection Should You Choose?

Start with TY Standard if you are building a table from the beginning, or if you want pieces that can move easily between breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and entertaining. Start with S&B Colour Porcelain if you already have a simple tableware foundation and want to introduce stronger colour or graphic interest. A mug, bowl or plate is enough to begin. Start with MANZ Contour if you are less interested in creating a complete tableware set and more interested in the experience of a particular cup — its proportion, surface and feel in the hand. There is no need to choose only one collection. A TY plate can form the foundation. An S&B piece can bring colour. A MANZ cup can become the object you return to every day.

MANZ Contour porcelain vessels in a ceramics workshop

S&B Colour Porcelain cup by 1616 arita japan

Arita Porcelain for Contemporary Daily Life

What connects these collections is not a single visual style, but the manufacturing knowledge behind them.

Arita has been producing porcelain for more than four centuries. 1616 / arita japan uses that history as a foundation rather than as a fixed aesthetic language, allowing different designers to work with porcelain through form, colour, material and proportion.

That is also why the pieces can move beyond a specifically Japanese table setting.

A TY Standard Palace Plate can hold toast, pasta or rice. An S&B Colour Porcelain Mug or S&B Colour Porcelain Plate can sit beside stainless steel, clear glass or other ceramics. MANZ can be used for Japanese tea, coffee or any drink that suits its scale.

The tradition remains present in the material and the making, while the use belongs to the present.

1616 / arita japan porcelain arranged in a contemporary table setting

Building a 1616 / arita japan Table Over Time

A table does not need to be completed at once.

One of the strengths of 1616 / arita japan is that the collections can be introduced gradually and mixed with objects already at home.

TY Standard can provide a neutral foundation through plates and bowls. S&B can bring colour through a cup, side dish or larger serving piece. MANZ can exist almost independently as a favourite drinking vessel.

This also allows the table to remain personal rather than overly coordinated.

At JDV, we see 1616 / arita japan as tableware designed to be lived with rather than simply displayed: objects that can move between meals, rooms and routines while retaining the precision of Arita porcelain.

Explore 1616 / arita japan at JDV

JDV's 1616 / arita japan selection brings together TY Standard, S&B Colour Porcelain and MANZ Contour — three distinct approaches to contemporary Arita porcelain.

Explore plates, bowls, cups and drinking vessels designed for everyday use, available online in Australia and from JDV Market in Prahran, Melbourne.