Contemporary chefs love to construct their culinary creations to enhance their impact; it’s not difficult therefore, to imagine they also love to create the props. Cristoforo Trapani, chef of Magnolia, the stellar restaurant at the Hotel Byron in Forte dei Marmi, has translated his culinary creativity to design. These two worlds meshed instantly: at the table or on a sideboard, his tiered cake stand PRE, hosts sweet and savoury finger food to be offered to guests in a creative and unexpected way. The bread basket of the Apuan Alps, in white or black marble, is ready to cradle the great Italian bread making tradition; the artichoke brazier is his chef-d’œuvre, and the soup tureen, are all objects of a simple cuisine that is redolent of lemons, sea and sun. They are not limited to functionality, but gleam with the marble’s calcite.