Sometimes the best ideas come from not being able to find just what you’re looking for. The spark for Tiers of Joy started when Marieli Cruzado’s dear friend was on a hunt for beautiful platters for her daughter’s wedding shower. Cruzado’s husband, Richard, spent years in the construction industry, so when her friend asked if custom tiered platters could be made, Cruzado thought it must be possible. “I said, ‘I think we can figure it out,’ ” she recalls. “When I started looking, I couldn’t find any tiered stands I liked. I wouldn’t put any of what I found in my kitchen. So we made a few of them for my friend, and then people started contacting me, asking if I would design some for them.”
The couple officially launched the business from their Houston home in June 2024, after realizing that they could fill a void. “I’m on a quest of reimagining something that was totally forgotten,” Marieli says.
Plated Partnerships
Credit: Courtesy Tiers of Joy
Soon after she began sharing content about the multi-level platters on her social media channels, English pottery and fine bone china brand Spode reached out to work with her. She also connected with Bordallo, the Portugal-based maker known for its nature-inspired majolica glazed ceramics, such as the iconic cabbage-leaf tableware. Now, Tiers of Joy creates ready-to-ship platters in motifs from gardens to Christmas. There are even some using Southern Living’s pink Richmond Estate plates. Shoppers can customize the ready-made platter sets with their choice of more than 20 kinds of hardware.
Custom Treasures
Marieli Cruzado, owner of Tiers of Joy
Credit: Courtesy Rachel Fontenot
While off-the-shelf pieces designed by the Tiers of Joy team account for approximately half of the business, they really shine in taking clients’ china—which, oftentimes, is gathering dust in a drawer—and turning those pieces into something that’s both functional and beautiful. “Our Southern ladies can be very creative with how they use their china,” Marieli says, noting that approximately 70% of her business comes from the South.
For custom orders, clients often have a set of china that has sentimental value—perhaps handed down from a relative or special pieces they grew up using—that might not work well in their everyday lives. Rather than keeping or displaying a formal service for 12, a client may have a place setting turned into a three-level platter that can be used for displaying fruit on a kitchen countertop.
“Clients have told me that every time they have their grandma or their parents over, they use the stands, and it’s a fun way of letting their family be included in celebrations,” says Marieli. “I have had moms that have a [tiered stand] at their baby shower, and then they use it in the nursery just to keep the little baby items that they need organized.”
Future Heirlooms
Credit: Courtesy Tiers of Joy
The process for custom orders is simple. Clients initiate a commission online and send the china to the Houston-based company, either packing it on their own or by purchasing a Tiers of Joy shipping kit. Customers can choose their favorite hardware and design, based on how the piece will be used. Teacups and saucers make petite stands ideal for small items such as jewelry, while dinner and salad plates work well for culinary uses, such as serving cookies or petit fours at a party. Tiers of Joy ships the finished product back in a custom box for easy storage, since the platters can be disassembled and packed flat to save space.
The cutoff for orders guaranteed by Christmas was October 31 (“We start getting Christmas orders in July,” says Marieli). However, the normal lead time outside of the holiday rush is about three weeks.
The company can work with almost any kind of china, as long as it arrives in good condition. Marieli admits that drilling into someone’s treasured pieces to make a new treasure can be a bit intimidating, but the risk is worth the reward. “The trust that people put on us every day for us to do this right is something that we treasure greatly,” she says.
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