NEW YORK – In most of the United States, Thanksgiving means gathering with friends and family, but in Palm Beach, Florida, it marks the arrival of high season. Well-heeled and well-connected members of the East Coast elite descend on the island to escape the ravages of winter through shopping, golfing, yachting, lounging, and appearing at gala charity balls. The approach of late November also prompts Palm Beach hostesses to dust off their Dodie Thayer lettuce ware services in anticipation of months of dinner parties and other intimate gatherings.
Thayer’s bright green ceramics command your attention and hold it. Unfurled leaves serve as plates; upright pieces with tightly arranged leaves, seemingly just starting to bud, make for salt and pepper shakers; and claiming the center of the table, as it should, is a tureen in the shape of a head of lettuce, with leaves peeling away from its heart. It is almost aggressively three-dimensional, and it is gorgeous.