Want to Throw a Dinner Party Straight Out of Your ‘Bridgerton’ Dreams? Familiarize Yourself with This Luxury French Silver Brand

Today, in a world awash with Shake Shacks and Burger Kings, it’s easy to yearn for a time when dining was a transcendent experience—a time when pomp, circumstance, and glimmering tableware were as tempting as the meal itself. Bridgerton season 3 is helping us quell our appetite for pretty things, but so too is the work of luxury French silversmiths Christofle.

The brand was founded in 1830 by the industrious Charles Christofle, who made a name for himself by being the go-to silversmith for the French aristocracy. Monsieur Christofle knew the French public at the time followed the trends and tastes of their rulers closely, so he made himself indispensable to them, outfitting the palaces of King Louis-Philippe and Emperor Napoleon III with solid sterling silver befitting their stations. To scale his business, Christofle relied on an extraordinarily prescient business tactic: a diffusion line. The silversmith patented a silver-plating technique that allowed for less-wealthy clientele to get the same look as royalty at a drastically reduced price.

Fortunately, for less-wealthy clientele such as ourselves, Christofle has released a selection of antique and vintage silver tableware and objects to conveniently shop online. There are beautiful silver-plated ice buckets and trinket dishes as well as adorable animal miniatures and silvered salt and pepper shakers. Items begin at $115 for a silver ice pestle to $2,200 for an elaborate four-armed candelabra.

The move into vintage makes sense given that nearly two centuries after the company’s founding, Christofle silversmiths rely on the same techniques that their forebears did— hammering, etching, and melding solid silver to a finer level of finish than any machine could ever achieve. Many of these artisans in their Normandy workshops come from families that have been working for Christofle for generations—and it’s not uncommon for sons and daughters to apprentice alongside their parents.

Though the techniques are centuries old, Christofle’s wares are firmly rooted in the present. The brand has a long tradition of working with some of the biggest design names and artists of their day (think Gio Ponti, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Wanders, Andrée Putman, and ELLE DECOR A-List architect Elliott Barnes) and has more recently partnered with stars of New York City’s downtown food and design scenes like Laila Gohar, Ignacio Mattos, and Michael Bargo—like-minded people who can appreciate the high level of craftsmanship on offer. Because who wouldn’t want to dine like a king or queen?

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