Grocery Shopping With Daniela Jacobs
Grocery Shopping With Daniela Jacobs
A guide to setting a good snack table with Arc Objects.
Remember when I met Charlotte, the super well-dressed woman in an Armani suit, on the subway? Well, we’ve since become friends, and last winter, she introduced me to Daniela Jacobs.
I already followed Daniela and her brand, Arc Objects, on Instagram. I also recognized her from growing up in New York. But I didn’t realize we had so much in common until we met in person. About an hour into our conversation, we discovered that we grew up a block away from each other and went to the same preschool, elementary school, and middle school AT THE SAME TIME. We even took the same ceramics class together as kids. For the rest of the night, we compared notes. “Wait, you love olives??” I’d say. “I love olives, too!!!” We were like the curly-haired version of that Spider-Man meme.
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Daniela better and discovering our differences as well. For example, Daniela sews most of her own clothes and can tailor a pair of 3€ vintage pants to look like a million bucks. I obviously shop… Differently. Daniela is also a fantastic cook, while I’ve been known to mix up salt and sugar in the kitchen. Anytime she has me over for dinner—either in New York or in Mallorca, a place she also calls home—she’ll put out an incredible spread using her Arc Objects ceramic serving plates.
“How do you do it!?” I always ask. She makes it look so easy, but I wouldn’t know where to begin. To me, this is the essence of Daniela’s brand: Everything is so thoughtful and elegantly crafted but also down-to-earth. Initially, I was afraid to wear and use her porcelain jewelry and objects because they seemed fragile. The same goes for her new glass jewelry and objects, which she just launched in time for her brand’s 10th anniversary. But they’re designed to be usable and wearable sculptures, she says. She’ll wear her bracelets and rings while riding her bike in New York and leave them on a rock in Mallorca when she swims in the sea. Nothing is too precious.
Daniela takes a similar approach to setting a table. “As with outfits, I like there to be some touch of asymmetry,” she explains. “I don't like perfection; if it feels too neat, then something's wrong. Something needs to be off, whether it's placement or maybe you chop something a little bit more roughly… There needs to be a sense of humanness to it.”
The last time I went over to Daniela’s house for dinner in New York, I asked her to break down her process for me. I’ve started collecting some Arc pieces myself, and I want my spreads to match their level of natural sophistication. (I’m also sick of putting out the same old olives and chips whenever I have my friends over, and I’m sure they are, too.) “In a way, it’s also a composition,” she said. “If you know what you're serving, you can think about what colors and textures of food might look better together.” She even considers the shape of the table.
All of her designs echo colors, textures, and shapes found in nature, like the sliver of the moon or the curve of an almond, and serve a functional purpose as well, like housing olive pits or pistachio shells. In my experience, this makes them easy to mix and match and intuitive to use. The thing is that, unlike Daniela, I don’t know what I’m serving. Not even a little bit. So, she made me a grocery list.
Below are all the elements of a classic Daniela spread, in case, like me, you get lost at the grocery store and want to try this at home…
Fresh ricotta with olive oil and salt from the Black Sea served in a glass cup *that also doubles as a candle holder!!!
Piparras peppers from a supermarket in Mallorca served on the egg plate.
Heirloom tomatoes sautéed slowly with onion, parsley, and thyme, and sprinkled with oregano, served on the full circle plate, which is reversible.
Chips served in a glass cup.
Deviled eggs served on the full circle plate.
Caselvetrano and Moroccan olives with anchovies served on the day and night plate set.
Lemony white bean dip served in the endavant bowl.
Sliced sausage served on the horabaixa plate set.
Cheers!
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I have been coveting this jewelry for a while….but have been worried about fragility. (I have been known to wave my hands enthusiastically when I speak…..!) I am pulling the trigger! Thank you for the nudge.