Bellure by ferm LIVING: Electroplated Porcelain for Winter Tables

Bellure is a small family of ferm LIVING objects with one shared idea: the rounded, worn-down shape of a river stone, cast in porcelain and given a metallic skin. This piece looks at what the series consists of, how the electroplated finish behaves, and how to place the pieces on a winter table so they still make sense in March.

A river stone, cast in porcelain

Every Bellure shape starts from the same reference. Stones that have spent years in moving water lose their edges and settle into soft, slightly irregular forms, wider in one direction than the other, never quite symmetrical. ferm LIVING borrowed that silhouette and kept it deliberately plain: no handles, no decoration, no pattern pressed into the surface. The interest comes entirely from the outline and from the way light runs across the curve.

The objects are cast in porcelain. Casting suits this kind of form, because a mould can reproduce a smooth, swelling volume far more evenly than throwing on a wheel, and porcelain fires to a dense, fine body that takes a surface treatment well. The result is a set of objects that feel heavy in the hand for their size and sit firmly wherever they are put down.

The product information names no individual designer, so Bellure carries the ferm LIVING name alone. What it shares with much of the brand's recent work is a preference for organic, slightly imperfect outlines over strict geometry, the same approach you see in its vases and ceramic objects.

How the electroplated finish works

Electroplating is an old industrial process. An object is given a conductive surface, placed in a bath of dissolved metal, and an electric current draws a thin, continuous layer of metal onto it. The technique has been used for well over a century on cutlery, hardware and lighting, and it is what lets a piece of porcelain look like solid metal while keeping the weight and density of ceramic.

On Bellure, the plating sits over a glaze, and this is the detail worth understanding before you choose one. The glaze underneath is never perfectly identical from piece to piece, so the metal layer above it reads slightly differently each time. Some areas catch the light as a bright, almost liquid reflection; others look softer and more matt. ferm LIVING describes it simply: the finish varies with the glaze, so each piece differs. Two objects in the same colour, side by side, will look like siblings rather than twins.

The series comes in three finishes, though not every shape is offered in all of them:

• Silver: a cool, bright reflection that reads well against white linen, pale wood and candlelight.
• Rustic Bronze: a darker, warmer tone with more variation across the surface, closer to an aged metal.
• Brass Finish: a yellow-gold tone, offered on the bowl, the centrepiece and the baubles.

The five Bellure pieces and their sizes

The family covers two purely sculptural objects, two pieces for the table and a set of tree ornaments. The dimensions below are taken from the product information, rounded as ferm LIVING gives them.

The two sculptural pieces

The Bellure Piece – Oval is the longer, lower of the pair: 34.5 cm in its long direction and 18 cm high, so it lies on a surface rather than standing up from it. The Bellure Piece – Round is more compact in plan at 26 x 28 cm but taller at 22 cm, which gives it a more upright, pebble-on-end presence. At around three kilos each, neither is something you move around casually, and that weight is part of their calm.

They were designed to be grouped. Placed together, the oval and the round set up a contrast of long and tall, the way two stones on a beach rarely match. Mixing finishes works too: a Silver round next to a Rustic Bronze oval gives you two tones of reflection without introducing a new colour.

The bowl and the centrepiece

The Bellure Bowl Ø17 cm and the Bellure Centrepiece Ø35 cm take the same stone outline and flatten it into something you can use. Both are food-safe. The bowl, at 5 cm high, is a size for nuts, sweets, olives or clementines, or for keys and rings on a hall table. The centrepiece is a wide, shallow form, 35 cm across and only 6 cm high, with a softly melted edge. It can carry a few pieces of fruit, a cluster of small candles on their own holders, or simply sit empty in the middle of a dining table as a reflective surface.

The baubles

The Bellure Baubles – Set of 2 shrink the stone down to 6 x 7 cm and add a polyester ribbon, 80 cm long, for hanging. They are porcelain rather than glass, which gives them more weight on a branch and a less fragile feel than a blown bauble. Because the ribbon is long, they also work hung from a window latch, a cabinet knob or a single branch in a vase.

Setting a winter table with Bellure

Metallic surfaces depend on what they reflect, so Bellure looks its best close to candlelight and in rooms where the daylight is low, which is exactly the situation of a December dinner. A few practical points help:

• Keep the centrepiece low and central. At 6 cm high it never blocks the view across the table, so it can sit in the middle while candles of different heights stand around it.
• Use the bowls in repeats. Two or three Ø17 cm bowls spaced along a longer table carry the theme from end to end better than a single large object.
• Pick one finish per table. Silver suits white porcelain and clear glass; Rustic Bronze and Brass Finish sit well with linen in oatmeal, rust or deep green, and with darker wood.
• Place the sculptural pieces off the table. The oval and the round are heavy and fairly large; a sideboard, a deep windowsill or the floor beside the tree gives them room.

After the holidays: living with Bellure all year

Most seasonal decoration goes back into a box in January. Bellure is meant to stay out. Nothing in the shapes refers to Christmas: there are no stars, no red, no snow. Once the tree is gone, the oval and the round can move to a bookshelf or a windowsill, where the stone form reads as a quiet sculptural object. The bowl becomes a catch-all by the door; the centrepiece stays on the dining table or moves to a coffee table under a stack of books. Only the baubles are strictly seasonal, and even they can hang in a window through the dark months.

Care is straightforward. Handle the plated surface gently and wipe it with a soft, dry or barely damp cloth rather than anything abrasive, which could mark the metal layer. Treat the food-safe pieces as you would good serving ware, and avoid stacking hard objects inside them. The surface variation that makes each piece different is part of the finish, not wear, and it is worth explaining to anyone who receives one as a gift.

To see Bellure alongside the rest of the season's ornaments, garlands and festive objects, browse the full Christmas collection.