Gabrielle Amato couldn’t relax during her housewarming party. Instead of enjoying the time with friends and celebrating her family’s new home in Charlotte, she was stressed about how long it would take her to wash all of the vintage china plates.
“I just felt so overwhelmed,” says Amato, who moved here from New York in 2023. “It took away from me wanting to actually host and have fun.”
She had a newborn to worry about. She felt like she’d had to decide between beautiful decor that created a lot of work for her, or easy decor that didn’t match the look and feel she wanted for the party.
She talked to her best friend in New York, Carolyn Hakansson, and together they founded Table Two Studio, which creates realistic-looking paper plates.
“I needed something that was cute that didn’t mean staying up until 1 in the morning to hand-wash everything,” Amato says.
The duo, who met in New York working as fashion interns, wondered if they could turn paperware into something with an elevated feel.
“We wanted something that looks like our porcelain and china,” Amato says. “The only way to achieve that is to replicate it with hand-painted art.”
All of the Table Two Studio paper plates are inspired by popular china makers like Bordallo, Vietri and Ginori. They feature delicately drawn floral borders, wave motifs and coral reefs, among other designs, all meant to make paper plates look like porcelain.
Table Two Studio launched its first designs in September 2025, leaning on Hakansson’s background in design and Amato’s work in marketing and e-commerce, unsure what the reaction would be.
“We have just been absolutely blown away,” Amato says. “People are looking for something cute and easy when they don’t want to pull all of their dishware out.”
Each design comes in a dinner-sized option as well as a coordinating hors d'oeuvres or dessert plate. They’re designed to mix and layer, creating beautiful tablescapes for events. To go with the plates, Amato and Hakansson also created cloth napkins and placemats as part of the collection.
“If I’m laying down paperware, I want to put them on a nice linen or special charger to elevate them,” Amato explains. “With our linens, we want people to understand that paper plates can still feel luxurious and thoughtful if it’s styled the right way, and there are textures and layers.”
Table Two Studio plates can be found in Eastover gift shop, Bonnie + Bud, or online at TableTwoStudio.com.
"We wanted something that looks like our porcelain and china."
"They feature delicately drawn floral borders, wave motifs and coral reefs, among other designs."