Back in the day, kitchens in urban homes looked quite similar. There would be steel utensils for daily use and ceramic ones — either all white or with floral patterns on the border — for when guests came visiting. Then came the eighties and the kitchen started changing. What was until then a purely functional, no-frills space had a new entrant: Melamine.

Melamine dinnerware positioned itself as a replacement for those simple steel plates and bowls. It added colour and patterns to everyday dining, and since it was “unbreakable”, you didn’t have to worry about it getting chipped