12 Serving Trays
There's nothing nicer than breakfast in bed--and nothing worse than bed covers covered in coffee and toast. I recently set out on a hunt for colorful, graphically bold serving trays that will sort out this situation. Here's what I found.
Munjoy / Ocean Tray
$45.00Serving trays are darn useful in the kitchen, making transport easy for a batch of cupcakes or couple of glasses of lemonade to eager guests. But a cool patterned piece can also really tie together a small collection of tchotchkes and create a nice tableau in any room of the house. The retro print on this birch veneer is named after the Munjoy Hill neighborhood in Portland, Maine, where Angela Adams is based, and is just one in a colorful collection that includes rugs, papergoods, and pillows.
Kenga / Punch Tray
$45.00The Kenga / Punch tray by Angela Adams offers a bold alternative to your everyday servingware. The graphic design and color choices were inspired by the company's associate creative director Karen Gelardi's "fiery enthusiasm and red hair" (and named for her as well since her nickname is "Kenga"). To us, though, it's a colorful and modern take on a plate of deviled eggs.
Pieni Unikko Tray
$25.00-$55.00The Pieni Unikko plywood tray features Marimekko's iconic Unikko pattern, designed by Maija Isola and Kristina Isola, and is available in pink and blue and less common black, yellow, and green hues.
Kaivo Tray
$25.00The Kaivo Tray by Marimekko features a lesser known pattern by desingersn Maija Isola and Kristina Isola, who also created the company's iconic Unikko floral graphics. In addition to the tray, the pattern is also available on tea towels and a mug.
Herb Garden Tray
$37.00Made of layers of birch veneer, the Herb Garden Tray features a playful design of cooking herbs--and the pattern is also available on storage pots for keeping your own homegrown spices.
Herring Tray
$37.00Graphically bold, the Herring tray's eponymous fish are abstracted enough to slightly distort their images and create a visually interesting pattern. The trays are made in Sweden with layers of birch veneer.
Landsby Small Tray
$23.00Made from sustainably forested Scandianvian birchwood, the Landsby Small Tray features an idyllic scene covered with a protective coating. Protect it at home in the cotton tote bag that comes along with it.
Sea Things Tray
$80.00In 1944, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and George Nelson each designed trays--along with other simple household goods--featuring now iconic patterns. The classic trays, including the Eameses' Sea Things Tray, are available through Vitra.
China Shop Tray
$80.00In 1944, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and George Nelson each designed trays--along with other simple household goods--featuring now iconic patterns. The classic trays, including Nelson's China Shop Tray, are available through Vitra.
Stockholm Tray
$30.00Take an around-the-world adventure with Maria Dahlgren's trays, which feature icons of the cities on which they focus. The collection includes trays celebrating Stockholm, Helsinki, and London.
Le Petit Dej' Breakfast Tray
$92.00Australian-born, United States-based designer Peter White, of Bywhite Designs, created this breakfast tray to solve the problem of including a vase for the breakfast-in-bedder that would inevitable topple onto the covers. The Petit Dej' tray offers the perfect alternative--though necessitates always having a flower on hand.
