D is gearing up for the season of entertaining, and of course Halloween, with some dinnerware that takes the best of the past and brings it firmly into the design future. Today, helping us do this is The New English – a UK based studio born of the premise that the products we buy should reflect our 21st century lives. More specifically, as the company’s founder Paul Bishop puts it, English style today is as much Daimen Hirst and the Sex Pistols as it is J.M.W. Turner and Edward Elgar.

Established in the world’s largest and most famed pottery producing city – Stoke-on-Trent, England – The New English appropriately specializes in the design and production of fine bone china. While the production techniques are rooted in the past, the company breathes new life into the old art form by inviting talented designers from across the globe to embellish the collections with unexpected and often edgy details.

Shown here are two of D’s favorites, beginning just above with “Entomo” available in black and platinum depicting a veritable ballet of insects designed and choreographed by Hong Kong native Monica Tsang. And just below, the colorful “Inkhead” designed by German born Florian Hutter. “Inkhead” was actually inspired by tattoos and while the artist first attempted to tattoo the images directly onto the china, they eventually had to go the route of a standard ceramic transfer (i.e. decal) based application.

While the collections are thoroughly contemporary in nature, the craftsmanship is fine and often laborious (involving up to 5 separate firings for a single piece along with the hand painted application of gilding in platinum and/or 22 karat gold). So what do you think? Could this be the wedding china of the future or are these platters serving up insects and sculls best reserved for the Halloween season?

Photos courtesy of The New English.