Eight pitchers that are perfect for summer entertaining
You may not have realized it, but summer is pitcher season. Think about it: For ice tea at lunch, for margaritas at sunset, for sangria at dinner and, of course, for ice water always. Sipping lemonade on a porch? Better with a full pitcher for refills. Need to bring instant charm to a meal eaten outdoors? Don’t bother with a tablecloth — bring out a pitcher instead. Trust us. The pitcher life is the best life.
Completedworks Thaw Glass Jug
This graceful bottle-green glass pitcher from a jewelry and housewares line in London has a captivating forward tilt to it and is part of a collection inspired by “the way drapery has been used by painters to convey movement.” Completedworks; $345
Koppel Pitcher from Georg Jensen
A reissue of 1950s design by Danish artist and product engineer Henning Koppel, this sleek vessel has a matte black exterior that hides an interior of mirror-polished stainless steel. George Jensen; $249
Dreamlike Pitcher by Ornamental by Lameice
The tall, color-blocked carafe was designed by Palestinian artist Lameice Abu Aker and made by a family of glassblowers in a small village near Jerusalem. It plays with scale, combining large bubbles for the body and a string of small bubbles for the handle. Mociun; $175
Emily Jug by Home Studyo
This cheerful moss-colored pitcher from a Belgian collective called Home Studyo is an object lesson in contradictions: Made from ceramic, it has a chunky solidity but was designed to imitate the shape of plastic blow-up toys. MoMA Design Store; $98
Niko June Kantine Pitcher
This bright apple-red number is part of a full set of matching stoneware plates, bowls, cups and more from the Copenhagen-based workshop. The collection is meant to evoke the sturdy institutional tableware of a bygone school cafeteria. Niko June; $99
Toogood Dough Pitcher
Faye Toogood is a British sculptor and furniture and clothing designer known for her handmade, lumpy-puffy-yet still decisively modern-aesthetic. Her housewares line includes this stoneware vessel, which was molded by hand in clay before it was cast for production. Toogood; $108
The Jug With a Twist by Helle Mardahl
Based in Denmark, Helle Mardahl Studio specializes in colorful, dreamy-yet-minimalist glassware hand blown from recycled glass. The red glass ball on this jug, which functions as a handle, is the proverbial cherry on top. Helle Mardahl; $475
Poterie Barbotine Blue Marbled Pitcher
Handmade from earthenware by artisans in Aubagne, France, this classic piece of marbled European crockery was inspired by a shard found while excavating the medieval quarter of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in Provence. Toast; $130