The Case for Using the Good Glasses

I have never really understood the concept of keeping beautiful things for best.

Best when?

Christmas? Your birthday? When the King pops round?

Meanwhile the beautiful glasses sit untouched in a cupboard while we drink out of the ones we don't particularly like for the other 360 days of the year.

Use them.

Beautiful things should acquire a history

I actually think tableware becomes lovelier once it has been used.

The champagne coupes that come out whenever something wonderful happens.

The serving bowl that's been on the table for countless Sunday lunches.

The glasses everyone remembers because one inevitably gets knocked over at every party.

Objects become meaningful because of what happens around them.

Everyday doesn't have to mean boring

There is absolutely no reason a Tuesday night can't involve a beautiful glass.

One of the easiest ways to make an ordinary dinner feel slightly less ordinary is changing what you're drinking from.

Water somehow tastes better from a coloured tumbler.

Wine deserves a lovely glass even if you're eating beans on toast.

And champagne certainly deserves a coupe.

Don't create a museum in your cupboards

Of course, things break.

That is the slightly terrifying part of actually using things you love.

But I'd rather eventually lose a glass after ten years of dinners, birthdays and slightly chaotic evenings than own six pristine ones nobody was allowed to touch.

Your home isn't a showroom.

Use the good stuff.