Tag: Foley

Designer Desire: Maureen Tanner

Montage of designs by Maureen Tanner for Foley Bone China

In this week’s Designer Desire we’re featuring Maureen Tanner, an illustrator that we don’t really know anything about. We know that she worked for Foley Bone China sometime in the 1950s/60s. We can’t find evidence that she ever worked for anyone else.

We have a couple of examples from her Gay Nineties range (top row in the montage above) currently for sale on our shop website. In addition to Gay Nineties, Maureen Tanner has designed a number of other ranges such as London Pride, Fun & Games, El Matador, April, Fern and Princess. All but the last are pictured above.

Her illustrations adorn tea trios, trinket boxes, pin dishes, tea & coffee pots and tennis sets. Pieces are available on Etsy and eBay.

If you can shed any light on this accomplished designer, we’d love to find out more about her. You can share any information you have in the comments section below.

Sifter Success!

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Foley Sift-Chine flour sifter with bags of flour and tray of eggs

Having recently published a Gimme Five! flour sifters post, I tasked Justin with finding me one to use in my baking. It didn’t take him long to unearth a bargain, paying just £5 for this lovely vintage Foley Sift-Chine example.

Foley Sift-Chine flour sifter with a tray of eggs

And it’s a Rolls Royce of a sifter – lovely, aged, shiny copper with a triple sift mechanism. The flour comes out so light & airy, perfect for making melt-in-the-mouth Victoria sponge cakes.

Foley Sift-Chine flour sifter

He’s my sifting hero!!