Ginori 1735, which has been making fanciful porcelain dishes in Tuscany for almost three centuries, is entering another historic phase: its Jake Gyllenhaal era. The actor is the new face of the brand, which recently released an ad for its new Oriente Italian line featuring him among dishware, mainly being sensitive. Gyllenhaal sips from a teacup as he wanders around the teacup factory and hovers with a frown over artisans painting their idea of Italian chinoiserie. He stacks a bunch of porcelain plates and gazes in awe at his creation (which is the stack, not the plates themselves). He tosses a dish towel over his shoulder as he serves pasta to his new ceramics friends, and they sit down to chat, perhaps about the possible health hazards of eating a meal in an industrial setting.
Ginori 1735 has made tableware for the Vatican, while Gyllenhaal has made the Vatican’s nightmare (Brokeback Mountain). But together they are now making “an eclectic and refined table setting that will leave anyone speechless.” Except for the Instagram commenters pleading for Jake to “make me spaghetti.”
