In the pink

I know I promised to stop going on about crockery, but it turns out I was lying and I have one more thing to say.


This, you'll recall, is Cornish Ware, a traditional English design first produced in 1925 which, confusingly, was designed and has always been made in Derbyshire (until last year, when it started being produced in China).


But it got its name because the blue is apparently reminiscent of the blue skies and seas of Cornwall, while the cream is the colour of clouds and the spume on the Atlantic waves. Very poetic.


Cornish Blue is the name of a family of kitchen and table ware, from measuring jugs and pudding basins to tea pots and plates.

Even from the beginning, the company also produced Cornishware in a range of other colours (the most popular were yellow, gold (more like an orangey-yellow, actually) and green):




The new owners have responded to this tradition and produced a range of (mostly) drinking wares in other colours -- here's a rather delightful set of mugs.


The colours are, allegedly, based on a set of croquet balls (which is at least trying to be poetic).


The colours are, allegedly, Cornish blue (of course), jet black, russett red and racing green.


Except that's a big fat fib, because this is what racing green looks like:


The other mug looks more like sage green to me.


Although there's no missing the russett red mug:


I hope we like that, because a complete range is scheduled to appear in that red:


Now that is what I call an audacious design.

I'm sticking to Cornish Blue.