The question we are asked most often is not about where a piece was made or what it is made of. It is whether it can go in the dishwasher. For most of the catalogue the answer is yes. For a few pieces the answer is no, and those are worth knowing by name.
- Porcelain: yes, on any cycle. Lino is fully vitrified, so it absorbs no water and the glaze is fused to the body. It takes the dishwasher, the microwave and the oven to 220°C. The one thing porcelain does not like is a sudden change in temperature. A plate straight from the oven should not meet cold water, and a plate from a cold cupboard should not go into a hot oven. Let it get halfway there first. If you stack Lino plates high, a square of cloth between every few plates saves the glaze from the foot ring above it.
- Stoneware: yes, on a low cycle. Arco has a matte reactive glaze, and the only thing that will damage it is abrasion. Use the dishwasher's low or eco cycle and a detergent without bleach or citrus. Do not use scouring powders, which dull the surface. The grey lines a knife leaves on a matte glaze are metal from the knife, not a scratch in the plate, and a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water rubbed in with a fingertip lifts them. Arco goes in the oven to 200°C. The same rule about sudden heat applies.
- Crystal: it depends on how it was made. This is the one that needs attention.
The pressed pieces, the Sera and Onda tumblers, highballs and jugs, have thick even walls and take a gentle dishwasher cycle. Use the glass setting if your machine has one, leave space between glasses so they do not touch, and take them out before the drying cycle if you can, because hot drying is what leaves the film. Hand washing keeps them brilliant for longer, but it is not required.
The mouth-blown pieces are hand wash only: the Filo and Onda decanters, the Vela carafes, and the Filo wine glasses. Their walls are thin, and the combination of heat, detergent and time in a machine will dull them in a year. Wash in warm water with a soft cloth, hold the glass by the bowl and not the stem, and dry it while it is still warm with lint-free linen. Anything with a gold line, the Filo decanter, is never scoured.
Decanters and carafes are stored with the stopper out until the inside is fully dry. A stopper that has stuck can be loosened with a little warm water run around the neck.
If in doubt, the sink. Nothing in the catalogue is harmed by being washed by hand.
- Steel: yes, promptly. Corda is forged 18/10 stainless steel, and stainless is a description of how it behaves, not a promise. It will take the dishwasher, but three things shorten its life. Salt, vinegar and citrus left on the blade for hours will pit it, so rinse before loading if the meal was acidic. Washing it in the same basket as silver, or as a cheaper grade of steel, can transfer marks between them. And leaving it wet in the machine overnight leaves water spots that are hard to shift. Load it, run it, and take it out and dry it with a cloth. Knives keep their edge longer washed by hand.
The short version is on the care guide, which is also printed on the card that comes in the box. If a piece has been through the wrong cycle and looks the worse for it, write to us before you give up on it. A dulled crystal glass often comes back with a soak in warm water and white vinegar, and a spotted steel knife with a rub of olive oil on a cloth.