Celebrating our English Heritage
Growing up in the 1970s I remember the wonderful Saffron pattern in our home. It was simple and comforting in the shape of a teapot, tea, coffee and sugar container - it summed up British design for me at that time.
What I didn’t know then was the story behind the teapot; where it had come from and how it had come into being. I’m not sure it even crossed my mind to question. I didn’t know it was a family business started by two brothers, with passion and an idea, who made products at their kitchen table to sell as souvenirs to tourists in their seaside hometown of Hornsea. I didn’t know that the designers’ father had backed these same brothers in the early days and had taken a chance to support local entrepreneurship. I didn’t know that the designer, John Clappison, was limited by what processes the pottery, as it became, would be able to manage and that led to his innovative way of doing patterns and glazes.
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His quirky design style was all his own, and was allowed to flourish by Hornsea. By the early 1970s, Hornsea Pottery produced over three million pieces a year and was the largest pottery manufacturer in the world.
It was sold in thousands of outlets across the world for over 50 years with virtually every household in Britain having at least one piece of Hornsea pottery. Once I had learnt all this I was really amazed.
Fast forward many years to today and I was delighted and curious to be approached by the license owners of Hornsea Pottery to bring these designs alive on eco and sustainable materials. It has been such a joy and pleasure to delve into the Hornsea history to discover so many wonderful designs and to be able to bring them to you in a new collection of sustainable homewares.
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Hornsea Pottery was made to be affordable, used every day and to be enjoyed just like our LIGA products.
Our LIGA homewares are every day, affordable products and we hope all those whose hearts and souls were poured into making Hornsea Pottery fifty years ago, would smile and nod with approval, as this iconic British brand lives on in a new way into the 21st Century.
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