Hamptons Blue Wants to Sell You the Hamptons Towns, One Plate at a Time

A new tableware line from Hamptons Blue turns Sag Harbor, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk into hand-painted heirlooms — produced in Portugal, sold at Hildreth’s, and pitched as the kind of thing you pass down rather than replace. It’s a different kind of blue plate special …

You don’t actually have to be in the Hamptons to feel that Hamptons pull. It’s everywhere — cedar shingles, the little widow’s walks perched on rooftops, the sense that an entire town’s identity can squeeze into a single glossy, frame-worthy photo.

Hamptons Blue, a home and lifestyle brand started by Julie Rankin and Dana Feller, is banking on the idea that this particular nostalgia can make its way onto your dinner table. That’s the idea behind their debut collection, which hit this past summer.

They’re calling it the Hamptons Collection, and it came out of Water Mill. It’s a run of fine porcelain, designed around four East End villages: Sag Harbor, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk. Each town gets its own set of original, hand-painted artwork that seeks to exemplify local landmarks and their colors in a way that feels specific. They’re not playing coy with the pitch: this is tableware built as an heirloom, the kind of piece you imagine pulling out for decades, then passing on to whoever hosts the next big family dinner, not swapping out every time the mood for mid-century anything strikes.

Courtesy of Hamptons Blue

Courtesy of Hamptons Blue

Courtesy of Hamptons Blue

Courtesy of Hamptons Blue

Production is in Portugal, where craftspeople take the original illustrations and turn them into finished porcelain, adding a touch of European craft to the local storytelling. Rankin and Feller see the whole thing as an extension of their bigger idea: the things that end up in your home should mean something, not just work the room. Launching with a collection built around a sense of place and memory felt like the only logical move — at least before the brand grows into more towns, custom pieces, and whatever else finds its way onto the table.

The launch has some local credibility, too. Hildreth’s Home Goods in Southampton — the most Hamptons home store and the oldest continuously operating family-owned department store in the nation — gets to be the exclusive retail partner. Co-owner Colleen Hildreth calls the collaboration a natural fit for a place that’s spent generations selling the whole Hamptons dream aesthetic. Pre-orders were open last August, then another wave hits this month, in September — right when everyone starts feeling that urge to keep summer alive, just a little longer.

If you want to know what nostalgia costs in dinnerware, Hamptons Blue spells it out pretty clearly—one place setting at a time.

Visit www.hamptonsblue.com to learn more.

Ty Wenzel

Ty Wenzel is an award-winning writer, designer, and marketing professional with a career spanning fashion, publishing, media, and digital innovation. A recent breast cancer survivor, she began her career as a fashion coordinator for Bloomingdale’s before serving as fashion editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine. Her work has appeared in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, and she is the author of a memoir published by St. Martin’s Press. In 2020, Wenzel co-founded James Lane Post, where she covers lifestyle, real estate, architecture, and interiors. She previously served as a writer and marketing director for The Independent. Her work in journalism, social media, and design has been recognized with multiple PCLI and NYPA awards, including best website design and best magazine. Wenzel is also the founder of the Hamptons-based social media agency TWM Hamptons Social Media, where she develops high-level branding and digital strategy for luxury clients.