How Cornishware got their cool back

Receive free design updates

we will send you a myFT Daily Recap email rounding up the latest Design news every morning.

“It was in style 50 years ago and I think it will be in style 50 years from now,” says Rebecca Rickards, of the bold blue and white stripes that characterize her family’s ceramic range, Cornishware, which turns 100 this year. Hand-painted stripes are a British homeware staple, a 20th-century design icon, and now a fashion sensation: Cornwall made its debut at Milan Fashion Week when Jonathan Anderson referenced the range for his label’s SS24 show anderson. Rickards and the team prepared more than 500 teapots, mugs, cereal and pasta bowls for Anderson to use as invitations to the show, which unfolded on a blue-and-white striped carpet.

“It was lovely to see Cornishware enter the world of fashion, something that had never been done before,” says Rickards. “And it was amazing to see bloggers and influencers dressed in blue and white stripes – you realized the power of the Cornishware brand had leaked out.”

It was crazy to see bloggers and influencers dressed in blue and white stripes.

Cornishware was founded by British potter TG Green, its stripes drawing inspiration from the Atlantic Ocean and Cornish clouds, at least according to one 1930s marketing campaign. As housewives took control of kitchens in In the 1920s and 1930s, decorative cookware became popular enough to withstand the economic threat of the Depression, when floating stripes kept TG Green afloat. Throughout the 1950s and beyond, the brand experimented with new colors, creating “Cornish Red” in a bid for the American market. Times got tougher, however, and in 2007 new investors, including Rebecca’s father, Charles Rickards, saved the company from closure. The biggest markets for her outside of the UK are now the US, where “Cornish Red” is still a hit, Australia and South Korea.

The company, formed by a team of 28 people, challenged the pandemic crisis, finding great success On Instagram, where its largest audience is 25 to 35 years old. “Our business doubled in size. I think everyone was at home looking at their mugs thinking, maybe I need a new one,” Rickards laughs. “It put a bit of pressure on ceramics, but we worked very hard to produce as much as possible to meet demand.”

Cornish pottery isn’t actually made in Cornwall, but is instead made from Cornish clay at a pottery in Somerset, where it has been based since 2017. “We’re bringing everything in from abroad to make it here on our farm,” says Rickards. “It is very difficult to market something that is British and not made in Britain.”

The brand appeals to a collective nostalgia, especially in the year of its centenary when it is reissuing designs from the 1950s that includes spice jars, a cake stand and a rolling pin, adding to their regular collection (mugs from £11, teapots from £27.50, set of four bowls £64). He has also created a new colour, “Cornish Blackberry”, inspired by a limited edition platinum anniversary mug. The brand releases new products every few months. “We like to nod to the past and keep it fresh,” says Rickards.

“Cornishware is a British household classic, a pottery that anyone would have in their home,” says Jonathan Anderson. “One of the main references of the latest JW Anderson show in Milan is the textures, patterns and everyday conformisms of the home, particularly a British home. That’s why we decided to wink, from the invitations to the fashion runway, to the blue and white stripes.

Fresh from a pilgrimage to the giant Cornishware teapot at the JW Anderson store in Milan, Rickards reflects, “We’re a small company in the West Country, and things like this don’t happen every day.” Though as the business gets bigger and bigger, who knows where the next striped ceramics will turn up?