Midnight Matte — The Square Selection | Annamis

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The Square Selection

Midnight Matte

A flat black glaze fired to a soft satin surface, with no break or shift from piece to piece. The most restrained finish in the range, and the one most requested for house branding.

Double-Fired Porcelain Matte black glaze Branding available
A Midnight Matte leaf-shaped plate with dried berries, showing the flat black satin glaze

The glaze

Flat black, satin surface

Charcoal · graphite · soot · ink · true black

Branding available

Your own logo or icon can be fired into the glaze. Same shapes, same glaze.

A single, non-reactive black glaze applied evenly across the piece and fired to a soft satin rather than a mirror gloss. No two glazes moving against each other, no drips, no break at the rim — every piece in a set matches the next exactly.

That evenness is what makes it the collection we brand most often. The same shapes can be fired with a client's logo or icon worked into the glaze in place of any decoration, since there is no pattern to compete with a mark.

A few pieces

For inspiration

Click a thumbnail to change the piece · click the large image for the view from above

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A selection, not the full range. Over 300 shapes are made in this glaze, and bespoke shapes to order.

Your dish on Midnight Matte

Send us a recipe, we'll plate it

Tell us the dish you have in mind and the shape you're after, and we'll send you a simulation of it on the piece.

On the plate

Plating Midnight Matte

What it flatters

Anything, by design. No colour or texture in the glaze competes with the plate, which is why kitchens use it as their default rather than a seasonal choice.

Contrast that works

Everything reads as contrast against true black. Red meat, pale fish, green herb oils and bright garnish all hold their own colour without correction.

Building a table

Black anchors a table rather than decorating it. Pair with one cream or grey glaze and keep the rest of the setting plain — linen, wood, unpolished metal.

In service

Two dishes on Midnight Matte

Short enough to hand to a section chef.

Argentine beef tartare with chimichurri and quail egg on a Midnight Matte round plate

On the round plate

Argentine Beef Tartare, Chimichurri & Quail Egg

Serves 2 · 20 minutes

220g beef tenderloin, hand-cut · 1 shallot, minced · 1 tbsp capers, chopped · Dijon mustard · Worcestershire sauce · olive oil · 2 quail eggs · parsley, oregano, garlic chimichurri · toasted bread · pink peppercorns

  1. Chill the beef well and cut it by hand into fine dice. Keep it cold until the last moment.
  2. Fold in the shallot, capers, a spoon of mustard, a few drops of Worcestershire and enough olive oil to bind. Season and taste.
  3. Blitz parsley, oregano, garlic, chilli flake, vinegar and oil to a rough chimichurri.
  4. Press the tartare into a ring in the centre of the plate and remove the ring.
  5. Top with a quail egg yolk, spoon chimichurri around the base, scatter pink peppercorns, and serve with toasted bread on the side.

Black absorbs no light back into the dish, so the raw beef and yolk read as the only colour on the table. The plate disappears; the food doesn't.

Miso-glazed black cod with pea purée on a Midnight Matte leaf-shaped plate

On the leaf plate

Miso-Glazed Black Cod, Pea Purée

Serves 2 · 30 minutes plus marinating

2 black cod fillets · 60g white miso · 40g sugar · 30ml mirin · 30ml sake · 300g peas, fresh or frozen · 30g butter · mint · radish, sliced · micro herbs

  1. Whisk the miso, sugar, mirin and sake together and marinate the cod in it for at least four hours, ideally overnight.
  2. Wipe the excess marinade off the fillets before cooking, or it will burn.
  3. Blanch the peas briefly, then blend with butter, a splash of the cooking water and a pinch of salt to a smooth, bright green purée. Pass it.
  4. Sear the cod skin-side down until deeply caramelised, then finish under a hot broiler until just cooked through.
  5. Spread the purée across the plate, set the cod on top, and finish with sliced radish and micro herbs.

The matte black gives the pea purée nowhere to hide and nothing to compete with — the one plate in the range built to disappear under the food entirely.

For Restaurants

See it in your kitchen

Tell us which shapes interest you. If you want the piece branded with your own mark, send the artwork with it.

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