Table settings
A GUIDE TO CUTLERY
PLACEMENT
The primary rule is that cutlery is placed so that the guest begins from the outside and moves in towards the plates for each course. Forks should be laid to the left and knives to the right, with the blade facing the dinner plate. If soup is being served, the spoon is placed on the right of the outside knife.
The dessert fork and/or dessert spoon should be laid above the dinner plate. When both are used, the dessert fork is laid closest to the plate so the tines face right. The dessert spoon is laid above the fork in a horizontal position, handle facing right.
You find a visual guide below.
MAIN COURSE
dessert
SOUP
MAIN COURSE
dessert
SEAFOOD APPETIZER
MAIN COURSE
dessert
salad
soup
MAIN COURSE
MAIN COURSE
CHEESE COURSE
dessert
soup
MAIN COURSE
CHEESE COURSE
soup
STARTER
MAIN COURSE
dessert
soup
ENTREE
MAIN COURSE
dessert
soup
MAIN COURSE
CHEESE COURSE
dessert
NATIONAL
DIFFERENCES
There is a difference between cutlery preferences in Scandinavia and the
rest of the world. Scandinavians have historically preferred slightly shorter
cutlery, with forks measuring approx. 20 cm and knives measuring 22 cm.
Further south in Europe, the knives can be up to 25 cm long.
But everyone can agree on a few simple requirements that well-designed
cutlery must meet. It shouldn’t be too heavy, it should fit comfortably in
small and large hands, and it should be well balanced.
These seemingly simple requirements form the foundation when the actual
design process of a new cutlery collection begins, and there are many
thoughts, ideas and techniques behind the proposed options and the final
result. Even a few millimetres in a spoon’s width can make all the difference
to how comfortable it is to eat with.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry