The heart and soul of a home, and the evolution of a family as it grows and develops, can be tracked from the dinner table. If you listen closely, it is from the table that you can hear a home's life pulse. Family, friends, food, candlelight...special occasions, and late night conversations. Strategy talks over papers and plans, morning coffee, intimate dinners and setting extra plates, grabbing extra chairs...the dinner table is the altar of connectedness.

Ten years ago, the artist Mary Anne Davis decided to devote her talents, both as a sculptor and potter, to dinnerware. From her studio in Spencertown, a two-story barn building that overlooks the Berkshire Mountains, she makes modern table art...place settings of striking beauty and originality. The lines of her porcelain place settings - plates, cups, bowls, and serveware - are clean, essential. The colors are as bold and vibrant, rich and saturated as those you might find in an Indian open-air spice market. From chartreuse to taupe, Davis's colors delight and surprise, with dynamic juxtapositions like those found in flowers, metallic beetles, fish scales.

We are so taken with Mary Anne's work. She has a simple bridal registry, befitting her artistry and a couple's own intimate sense of what they want in the heart of their home. She works with them to bring together their vision, and then, through the contributions of friends and family, she handcrafts each piece. Not only does the couple receive a work of art that will be central to their daily lives, it is art that they will have helped to create themselves, with the artist. Their dinnerware will be unique, and uniquely theirs.

Now, we are pleased to announce, there is an extraordinary way to experience the art of Mary Anne Davis' dinnerware at your wedding celebration. For the discerning couple, who appreciates the artistry of the table and the ways in which beauty evokes and adds to an event's magic, it is possible to rent custom Davis dinnerware for your reception dinner. It is hard to imagine a more dynamic tableau than one graced with an artist's place settings. For the creative couple whose budget allows for it; Mary Anne Davis tableware can boldly transform the experience of the meal and the reception.

For information on buying Mary Anne Davis' dinnerware art, or renting it for your wedding reception, please contact Kimberly Coon at Destination Bride at (518) 392-7766.