The most overlooked surface in culture

When does a napkin stop being a napkin—and start becoming something else entirely?

Here at Serviette, we believe in the vast potential of the humble napkin. While they may primarily be relegated to the dining room, make no mistake: the significance of serviettes extends far beyond the table.

Nobody understands this better than Polish artist Helena Minginowicz, who often opts for paper towels and napkins over stretched linen or primed board. Interrogating themes of transience, universality, and vulnerability, Minginowicz transforms the quotidian into the enchanting through her unique style of airbrushing. She understands that, like fragrance, beauty is often—if not always—fleeting; her usage of unstable canvases serves as a necessary reminder that this ephemerality doesn't diminish beauty, but actively enhances it.

Minginowicz is also known for imprinting phrases onto paper napkins, turning throwaway items into cultural artifacts. She is acutely aware of the divide separating the functional from the beautiful and seeks to narrow the gap between the two. At Serviette, we invite you to do the same, hence the inclusion of an embroidered serviette with every purchase.

Napkins have also been saviors for many an artist or tastemaker; take, for example, Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who scribbled the idea for A Few Good Men onto a cocktail napkin while working as a bartender at a Broadway theater. Or David Shepard, who sketched what is now the signature credit card font onto the back of a napkin at the Waldorf Astoria hotel bar. And yes—even Milton Glaser’s “I ♥ NY” logo was born on a napkin. Proof that inspiration doesn’t wait for proper stationery.

What do you think—is the napkin our most democratic canvas?