Square Serving Plate

River and Forest Original

This is a plate for everyday use, featuring the beautiful grain and color of Kihada wood (Amur cork tree, native to Japan).

Its square shape makes efficient use of space both on the table and on the plate itself. In the owner's home, it is used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This plate is especially favored for serving snacks to pair with drinks. It is also highly convenient when sharing dishes with a group.

The owner has always used the standard Hirocraft bread plate (large) as a serving plate. Even though it was a serving plate, we didn’t prepare one for each dish—instead, we placed all the side dishes we took onto a single bread plate and ate from that.

So I asked Hirota-san to modify the bread plate slightly and create this square plate for serving. The changes were to make it slightly thinner overall than the bread plate, make the inside edge a little steeper, enlarge the flat surface of the plate (the bread plate is slightly slanted toward the center), and make the carvings larger and deeper. This makes it even easier to place side dishes on it and makes it less likely that liquid will run onto the side dishes next to it.

Hirota's development involved repeated trial and error, and it took about two months to complete the prototype. The challenge was to enhance the water resistance and durability of this wood, which has large vessels, while bringing out the beautiful grain and color of the Kihada, without compromising the beauty of the carved shape. This challenge was overcome by embedding the same Kihada wood powder into the vessels during the finishing coat.

This plate combines beauty, functionality and durability, so be sure to use it for your everyday meals.

From the Artisan

The original product was a bread plate that was first made around 2010, but driven by the passion of the shop owner, who is a heavy user, I made repeated improvements to complete the product.

It can be used for a wide variety of foods—not just for bread and meals, but also for soba noodles, fruits, and sweets.

Please feel free to enjoy this dish as an everyday dish at your dinner table every day.

Product Specifications

• Artisan: Mitsunobu Hirota
• Wood species: Kihada (Japanese Amur Cork Tree)
• Finish: Glass paint
• Dimensions: approx. 205mm in length and width, approx. 18mm in height

Care Instructions

Please see " Examples of the Aging Process and Maintenance of Wooden Tableware (Oil Finish) " for care instructions.