Continuing with the story of our history, we come to the year 2016.

We hadn’t heard from our only tableware customer at the time for a year, and suddenly we got a call. There had been changes at Carpe Diem: now there was a new chef, Rodrigo Hurtado.

The first project we did with Rodrigo was skewer skewers. The excellence in the presentation of the dishes reaches the point of manufacturing skewers of skewers specially designed for the restaurant. They caused such a fury that many customers took them as souvenirs of the experience and it was common to see girls with their hair tied up by spikes. Luckily the purchasing manager took it with humor.

This project may seem very simple, but there are many things to consider when designing a skewer, including the fact that it can be held without burning.

Rodrigo is in love with wood and artisan ceramics, which can be seen in the pieces we develop together.

The first was the presentation of curries, with a solid wood base in the shape of a drop/flower petal and two ceramic bowls where curry and rice are presented.

The quesadilla plate followed: a mix between oriental and Mexican styles. A stackable piece with a base with very Japanese legs and some divisions in the shape of a lotus flower for a typical Mexican dish.

With Rodrigo we created a new version of the plate for Kobe with hot stone, completely changing the style of the plate: now it is larger, to include the vegetable garden that accompanies the meat, the base material was changed, before ceramic, now wooden and the shape of the hot stone was changed, now it is an awesome flower that “floats” on the wood.

At this stage, a series of ceramic plates with oriental lines were also designed and manufactured, with a characteristic aesthetic: thick pieces, square or rectangular in shape, made of black refractory stoneware, with the edges decorated with lines reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy.

A meat like Nebraska steak needed a special dish, and we gave it. We created a very rustic ceramic plate, with great strength, with legs, to give it a more elegant air, and with compartments for the meat, the sauce, the garnish.

Completely breaking the classic concept of sushi plate, we created the piece for the assortment of niguiris. A luxury assortment that needed a spectacular presentation. We chose gold metal, which looks so good in an environment like Carpe Diem, with a design reminiscent of seaweed and the movement of the waves.

And when you know that a chef has a weakness for a certain material, you offer him the treasures that you find. And so, came only 7 pieces of wood that we had stored for many years, waiting to have a good idea to take advantage of it. It was something like a piece of branch, a meter and a half of wood of a mysterious hue and a tree that we never knew how to identify (we asked experts and they didn’t know how to tell us either). A few wide slices of wood where to place the niguiris 2 by 2, reminiscent of the old cut woods.

And we continue walking, accompanying the CDLC group in its journey.