Tag: plates

Designer Desire: Prue Cooper

Montage of Prue Cooper slipware ceramic plates

I was looking at potter, Hannah McAndrew‘s Instagram feed recently and saw that she said she’s currently having a joint exhibition with Prue Cooper at Contemporary Ceramics in Bloomsbury, London.

That info spurred me on to go check out Prue’s work and I discovered another slipware genius. Her plates, platters and dishes are just beautiful; at the same time traditional and modern. Her colour palettes are unexpected and alluring. Many of her pieces have known and not so well known quotes written around the rim in the most beautiful calligraphy. Quotes by the likes of Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Gerard Winstanley on the subjects of love, life, food and more.

Prue Cooper is a member of The Art Workers’ Guild and the Craft Potters Association. Her work is available at Contemporary Ceramics, Gallery St Ives in Tokyo, Japan and on her own website. Prices range from around £90 up to £380. Check out her Instagram feed for other examples of her work.

My dishes are meant to be used and enjoyed; slip decorated press-moulded earthenware is an approachable and friendly medium. The designs reflect my view of life, celebrating friendship and the sharing of simple pleasures.

Portrait of Prue Coopercredit

All images: © Prue Cooper

Price Points: Decorative wall plates

Decorative wall plates | H is for Home

Sometimes plates are just too pretty to keep hidden away in a cupboard; too beautiful to dare eat off. This selection of decorative wall plates deserves to be shown off!

They’re works of art that deserve to be treated as such; mount them on a plain wall or lean them on special little stands to display them to full effect.

  1. Ceramic fish shaped decorative hanging plates: £4.28 to £64.76, Etsy
  2. VILLEROY & BOCH Anmut Flowers bread and butter plate – 16cm: £21.90, Selfridges
  3. London Calling plates – set of 4 by Royal Doulton: £40, Amara

Ooh la la!

Vintage Parisienne and Paris Café pattern side plates | H is for Home

We bought these two lovely vintage Paris side plates this week – what classic 1950s designs!

Vintage Rigeway Parisienne side plate | H is for Home Vintage Alfred Meakin Paris Café side plate | H is for Home

They’re quite similar, both featuring French café scenes, but were produced by different makers – namely Ridgway and Alfred Meakin.

Back stamp from vintage Rigeway Parisienne side plate | H is for Home Back stamp from vintage Alfred Meakin Paris Café side plate | H is for Home

The illustrations are gorgeous – café society, stylish ladies and gentlemen, parasols, hats… and poodles!

Detail from vintage Rigeway Parisienne side plate | H is for Home Detail from vintage Alfred Meakin Paris Café side plate | H is for Home

They display very well – catching your eye and drawing you in for a closer look – something different to notice each time. Available to buy in our webshop now.

Load of old bull!

Vintage Beafeater steak plates by English Ironstone Pottery | H is for Home

We thought that we must have written a post about this range of crockery before. Having looked through our blog archive, it’s had a few mentions, but never a dedicated post. Surely, it deserves one!

Set of 6 vintage Beafeater steak plates by English Ironstone Pottery | H is for Home

This set was featured in yesterday’s Forthcoming Attractions post – and as we commented on there, we love this eccentric, crazy pattern.

Detail from vintage Beafeater steak plate by English Ironstone Pottery | H is for Home

Psychedelic, multi-coloured, stylised bulls – what’s not to like?

Detail from vintage Beafeater steak plate by English Ironstone Pottery | H is for Home

Some of them just about manage a passable bull hide look, but then this guy just goes completely wild with his pink & turquoise daisy splodges. Fabulous!

Backstamp of a vintage Beafeater steak plate by English Ironstone Pottery | H is for Home

As you can see from the base marks, the range is called “Beefeater” and was produced by English Ironstone Pottery Ltd. They date from the early 1970s era. In addition to these oval main course plates, we’ve also come across side plates – and there’s also a more monochrome version of the pattern. They display really well and look great on a long shelf or mounted on a wall.