V is for… Viners

Group of vintage Viners stainless steel items | H is for Home

Viners is renowned for its high quality stainless steel products.

vintage Viners sauce boat | H is for Home

The company was founded in 1901 by Adolf Viener.

Vintage Viners ladle | H is for Home

Sheffield is the home of British steel manufacturing and Viners grew into the biggest cutlery factory in the city.

group of vintage Viners Mosaic cutlery pieces | H is for Home

Ruben Viner, one of the founder’s sons, became the firm’s driving force, and it really prospered in the 1960s.

This period saw our favourite range of products with wonderful shapes & textures – by designers such as Gerald Benney and Stuart Devlin. Even the packaging looked great!!

vintage Stuart Devlin dish designed for Viners | H is for Home

Their cutlery ranges from this era such as Mosaic, Shape and Sable are now much sought after.

set of vintage Viners Mosaic cutlery | H is for HomeMosaic

set of vintage Viners 'Shape' cutlery | H is forHomeShape

set of vintage Viners 'Sable' cutlery | H is for Home
Sable

The stainless steel was sometimes combined with woods such as rosewood and teak…

vintage Viners teak & stainless steel ice bucket | H is for Home vintage Viners teak & stainless steel ice bucket | H is for Home

…as in this fabulous ice bucket…

set of vintage Viners Polynesian teaspoons | H is for Home

…or these Polynesian teaspoons.

The company invested in a modern factory in Sheffield with subsidiaries in Ireland, France and Australia. Unfortunately, this major investment was to be the firm’s undoing. Crippling loan repayments at a time of stiff competition from cheaper, Far Eastern imports saw the family-run business close in 1982.

vintage Viners ice bucket | H is for Home vintage Viners ice bucket | H is for Home

The brand is now owned by US-based Oneida, the world’s largest cutlery company.

vintage Viners Splayds spoons

There are some great vintage pieces out there – have a look at H is for Home’s current vintage Viners items for sale.

S is for… Salt

'S is for... Salt' blog post banner

Collection of vintage salt & pepper shakers | H is for Home

Essential for seasoning… salt and pepper need storing, sprinkling, pinching, grinding and shaking. There are endless possibilities to enable all these things.

Starting with the traditional matching salt & pepper pots… they’re made from pottery, glass, metal, plastic and wood.

Pair of Hornsea 'Rainbow' salt & pepper pots | H is for Home Vintage Hornsea 'Saffron' salt & pepper pots | H is for Home

Pair of vintage Staffordshire pottery salt & pepper pots | H is for Home Pair of two tone brown vintage pottery salt & pepper shakers | H is for Home

Pair of vintage stainless steel salt & pepper shakers H is for Home Pair of vintage teak and stainless steel salt & pepper pots | H is for Home

As these pots are often left on permanent display, it’s a great opportunity for showing off a bit of good design, striking pattern or flash of colour. These gorgeous Cathrineholm ‘Lotus’ examples (manufactured by Lyngby) manage to combine all three…

Vintage orange & white Cathrineholm Lotus salt and pepper pots | H is for Home

We also like pinch pots; they’re great for salt crystals or flakes – and coarse, ground pepper.

Pair of vintage John Clappison designed bird dishes being used as salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

We keep these John Clappison-designed Hornsea pinch pots in our kitchen table. They were originally intended as ashtrays, but are the perfect size & shape for this alternative use.

Vintage John Clappison designed bird dishes being used as salt pinch pots | H is for Home

Larger pinch pots & salt pigs are great for keeping beside the stove for everyday cooking use.

Antique wooden cheese moulds being used as stove-side salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

Antique wooden cheese moulds being used as stove-side salt & pepper pinch pots | H is for Home

These wooden pinch pots are actually antique cheese moulds – again they’re ideal for their new function.

A salt pig is one of the best containers to keep by the cooker as it allows for a good scoop or handful when adding to boiling water for pasta, rice, vegetables etc.

Vintage glazed pottery salt pig | H is for Home Vintage cream glazed pottery salt pig | H is for Home

If you prefer your salt in a sealed container there are lots of options here too!

Vintage Hornsea Pottery 'Bronte' lidded salt pot | H is for Home

Vintage pottery lidded salt pot | H is for Home

And finally grinders… these make light work of salt crystals & whole peppercorns – releasing aromas and flavours right at the point of serving.

The undoubted master of the grinder is designer Jens Quistgaard, with his numerous examples produced for Dansk Designs. There is, in fact, a book available entirely dedicated to the subject – Danish Pepper: Jens Quistgaard’s Teak Pepper Mills (Amazon)

Danish Pepper: Jens Quistgaard's teak pepper mills book available at AmazonAs you can see from the cover, their sculptural forms and beautiful grain makes for a stunning grouping. We’ve just decided that we may have to start a collection of our own!