During her childhood in Kolkata, India, it was customary for Divya Saraf to dive straight into some of the stickiest foods with her fingers. Such was the culinary tradition; she would never have asked for utensils.
But as a design curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Saraf admires the growing global cadre of architects and artisans who satisfy the appetite of eaters as hungry for stunning tableware as they are for gourmet cuisine. This fall, she and cocurator Daryl McCurdy mounted a survey of cutting-edge utensils, pots and glassware titled “Table Manners: A Feast for the Senses,” on view at SFMOMA through May 2026.
Drawn entirely from the institution’s permanent collection, the more than three dozen objects range from precious and limited edition to mass-produced and (relatively) affordable. Several are by 20th-century design legends, like Walter Gropius and Josef Hoffmann; others are by buzzy contemporary makers, like Roberto Lugo. The gallery’s fanciful wall hangings are tablecloths that the young Oakland, California–based visual artist Lucy Stark decorated with illustrations of the designs in the show.
Naturally, all the works comment on consumption in one form or another. When you’re handed a goblet by Geneva, Switzerland–based designer Jeremy Brown that has an extra-long stem but lacks a foot, you’re literally unable to set down your drink. Call it a conversation piece — high design sure to spice up any gathering.
Here are 11 standouts.
Virgil Abloh for Alessi Occasional Object Utensils
Multidisciplinary American designer Virgil Abloh’s perforated sandblasted-stainless-steel cutlery set comprises a knife, fork and spoon on a removable carabiner that allows the group to be worn together as a fashion accessory.
“His work questioned the status quo,” McCurdy says of Abloh. SFMOMA acquired the 2022 design from Alessi partly because of his enormous fan base. So, it’s perhaps surprising that the firm limited production to just 999 numbered sets.
Walter Gropius, Louis A. McMillen and Katherine De Sousa for Rosenthal TAC Tea Service
Less is clearly more in this late 1960s ceramic tea service created by Bauhaus School founder Walter Gropius along with associates from his Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm, the Architects Collaborative (TAC). “It’s not showy,” McCurdy says. But, Saraf points out, when you grab the teapot, you “see the appeal in how it feels to use.”
Philippe Starck Juicy Salif Citrus Reamer
Frenchman Philippe Starck’s iconic design from 1990 is practically a dare, thanks to documented shortcomings in what even Alessi, the manufacturer, terms a “surprisingly” functional juicer. “Using it makes a huge mess, the finish tarnishes, and it tips over,” McCurdy says. But infamy in industrial-design circles apparently hasn’t hurt sales. For many, its undeniably thrilling space-alien look has earned the sculptural aluminum piece a permanent place in the kitchen, if not on a work counter, then on a display shelf.
Edith Heath for Heath Ceramics Coupe Collection Studio Mug
This was a 2011 gift to the museum from Heath Ceramics, which just recently put its peppered-beige Sand glaze back into production. Sausalito, California, potter Edith Heath’s mid-century design allows you to clutch a cup of coffee and a cigarette simultaneously in the same fist. That’s twice the vice in one go, the curators note.
Arne Jacobsen AJ Flatware
Prolific Danish modern architect and industrial designer Arne Jacobsen approached surgical precision with this fiercely futuristic cutlery. The knife, in particular, evokes a scalpel, and “there’s a coldness to it,” Saraf says. McCurdy believes she’d enjoy using the utensils for a meal — should the opportunity arise outside the museum. “Once they enter our collection,” she says, “it’s hands off.”
Natalia Criado Mucura Teapot
In Colombian Spanish, múcura refers to a rough clay jar often used to hold water. Inspired by the rounded jug, Milan-based Colombian designer Natalia Criado used it as a point of departure for a creative leap. Criado’s double vessel, crafted in Italy, is made from silver-plated recycled brass with jasper accents. The spouts of the two pots that compose the piece join in a delicate kiss at the middle. But it’s still possible to enjoy a cup of tea. You actually pick up the whole rigid assembly by the handle and pour from the bird’s mouth at the opposite end. That surprises those who “read the work as an art object,” Saraf says. “It was designed to be used.”
Gumdesign Swing Wine Glass
This playful stemware was created by Laura Fiaschi and Gabriele Pardi, the Italian partners behind Gumdesign, for artisan crystal and glass workshop ColleVilca. It sits “more on the experimental side,” Saraf notes. A glass bump centered underneath the circular foot prevents the goblet from standing upright, essentially throwing the contents askew. Managing it demands extra “work for guests” and naturally curbs consumption, McCurdy says.
Zaha Hadid Silver Tea and Coffee Service
Iraqi-British architect and designer Zaha Hadid’s swooping forms are instantly recognizable. Hadid was “quite literal,” Saraf notes, in elegantly miniaturizing her architecture for this sterling-silver service. Gleaming and functional, the coveted sets are now nearly impossible to obtain, having been released as a very small edition. “The majority of them are in museum collections,” McCurdy says.
Joe Colombo Asimmetrico Drinking Glass
This decidedly off-kilter 1964 goblet, marketed originally by C.J. Riedel, is one of several masterworks in the SFMOMA collection by the revolutionary Milanese designer Cesare “Joe” Colombo. The mounded foot fits nicely in the palm of your hand and actually helps prevent tipping and spills.
Roberto Lugo Lil Wayne and James Baldwin Teapot
Philadelphia-based Roberto Lugo is best known for his colorful ceramics incorporating themes of racial and social justice. Increasingly popular among collectors, the Afro-Latino contemporary artist sold out his show at New York gallery R & Company last year. His pieces often feature portraits of cultural icons framed by vivid prints referencing both traditional motifs and street art. This 2022 teapot depicts rapper Lil Wayne on one side and writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin on the other.
Soft-geometry Mirrors for Aliens
Indian-born Utharaa Zacharias and Palaash Chaudhary, of the emerging studio soft-geometry, graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design before launching their San Francisco–based operation. In 2023, they proposed this limited-edition series of assisted readymades, turning Indian thalis — steel trays with shallow compartments for food — into flashy wall mirrors hand polished to a bright shine. The name of the design, they say, plays on their “nonresident alien” status according to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.
