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Melamine Tableware is designed by Jill Fenichell, who was an antique porcelain and pottery dealer for 15 years. Her specialty was English blue and white porcelain made in the 18th century.

While dealing in antiques, Jill often made custom-designed porcelain items to match antique services,so she started a small company called The Bespoke Porcelain Company. This company still exists and each year Jill makes a few services for people willing to pay the money required for unique dinnerware. Link here for the Bespoke Porcelain site While working on Bespoke designs for other people, Jill started thinking about her own designs, and thus created a small cluster of her own patternware. Still, even this did not reflect the reality of her own situation, living in brownstone Brooklyn with a husband who loves to put his feet on the coffee table, and a son who plays baseball and video games, and loves to inhale food while goofing around with his friends. Jill's mother lives downstairs, and the family eat together often. Jill thought about trying to do something pretty in plastic, and thus, Bongenre.com was born in 2005. "I get to think about patterns I love, and work out interesting color relationships and rhythms between shape and pattern and color," says Jill. "The real question is: how to connect the old to the new and to start people looking at old things, but in new ways. That's what I want to do with my tableware."

"I hope you enjoy your Bongenre.com Elegant Melamine Tableware, and that you will find it fits into your life the way it fits into mine. Please remember DO NOT zap the plates in the micro; use them as frisbees with great caution; and try not to put them too close to your 'cue, as the heat may turn them into something else. That can be interesting, but hard to keep food on. Also, as the decal on your tableware starts to fade, rather than chucking the plates out, please try to think of this process as one in which you participate in the making of an instant antique" — JF

Join Bongenre on Facebook for updates and inspirations from Jill!