Handmade things carry a trace of the person who made them into wherever they are used. Eating off a plate somebody shaped means a stranger’s afternoon is present at your table on a Tuesday, which is a quiet argument against treating ordinary days as filler. The object does not need to be beautiful for this to work; it needs to have been considered.

Use the good things rather than saving them. Whatever you have that was made by hand should be in the cupboard you open daily, not in the one you open for guests.