Upgrade
Your Rags

Tea towel, dishtowel, kitchen towel: Whatever you call it, it’s definitely part towel. The name tea towel originated in England, referring to linen cloths used to dry delicate and expensive china—mostly pieces of tea services.

Dishtowel and kitchen towel are more self-explanatory. Whichever term you prefer, it always refers to a cloth (usually rectangular in shape) made from natural fabrics, like linen or cotton, that’s used to dry china and other dishes, or your hands. Today, a new crop of designers is reinventing the humble cloth. Below are CHOW’s selections of some of the prettiest tea towels on the market. We’ll leave it to you to decide if they’re cleanup tools or pieces of art.

In 1951, Finnish couple Viljo and Armi Ratia started Marimekko by asking their graphic designer friends to make prints for textiles. Decades later, the company now also makes home accessories and clothing. The Marimekko aesthetic is unmistakable, even on its tea towels: bright, bold, colorful, large-scale patterns. All tea towels are screen-printed on cotton-linen blends and measure 27 1/2 by 18 1/2 inches.

The three members of Atelier LZC, based outside of Paris, met while studying textile design at the Duperré art school. Their tea towels, produced in small quantities, are based on a theme, like “Small Dishes” or “Russian Dolls,” and incorporate unconventional color combinations. All are screen-printed on 100 percent cotton and measure 21 by 27 inches.

Simple Memory Art says that it aims to “create products that inspire both children and adults to learn and to laugh in unexpected places.” Its line of kitchen towels features food-related tips and helpful graphics, like the optimal serving temperature for specific wines or how to store various herbs. There are two different towels in each of the three sets: Wine, Herbs & Spices, and Cooking Tips. All tea towels are silk-screened on 100 percent cotton flour sack and measure 28 by 29 inches.

South African illustrator Heather Moore is the one-woman design team behind the handmade crafts brand Skinny Laminx. Her tea towels are decorated with simple line drawings and shadowed silhouettes based on a singular theme, in incredibly vibrant colors. (Moore’s Borrowed Spoons design was inspired by Jasper Morrison’s A Book of Spoons.) All are screen-printed on cotton hopsack and measure roughly 18 by 26 inches.

Brooklyn-based Lotta Jansdotter’s tea towels are organic and earthy in their palette, nature-inspired graphics, and textured fabric. All are screen-printed on 100 percent natural linen and measure roughly 17 by 23 inches.

Tikoli tea towels by graphic designer Maja Brugos borrow from both midcentury design and Japanese textile prints. The six different towels are made to mix and match. All are pigment-dyed (a process that gives fabrics a soft, almost washed look), printed on 100 percent cotton, and measure 18 by 28 inches.

Inspired by vintage 1970s-era fabrics, Simrin tea towels are handmade in India, where metallic inks and embroidery are used to embellish the cloth. The company has three lines: Nature (large, detailed plant motifs reminiscent of Blossfeldt), Surya (sunflower prints that flirt with kitsch), and Spiro (geometric patterns). The towels in each line are sold in a set of three complementary designs, with multiple color options. All are screen-printed on 100 percent cotton and measure 20 by 28 inches.

Australian outfit Third Drawer Down has worked with artists such as Camilla Engman, Marcel Dzama, and James Gallagher to create limited-edition tea towels. The name of this design project refers to a statistic stating that 80 percent of households in the Southern Hemisphere keep their tea towels in the third drawer down. However, we suspect most owners of Third Drawer Down towels hang them on their walls. All are 100 percent linen and measure 20 by 28 inches.