Design Moments: Fiestaware, circa 1936

Never has a pottery name so lived up to its design: Fiesta – or as it’s more usually known, Fiestaware, is colourful, cheerful and distinctly optimistic.

Maybe that’s why it doesn’t get so much attention these days – while downbeat, “tasteful” Scandi-inspired colours are all the rage.

The American tableware was, in 2002, according to the New York Times, the most collected brand of china in the United States – and I suspect that is still the case on that side of the Atlantic.

First produced in 1936 by the Homer Laughlin China Company in West Virginia, it instantly stood out for its solid bright colours and nods to art deco.

There were originally just five colours: red orange, cobalt, light green, golden yellow and old ivory. These changed as new trends emerged so that in the 1950s a dark pink was added as was grey and chartreuse.

Mix and match

Collectors can date a piece from the colour as much as the shape with the “medium green” – a vivid Kelly green launched in the late 1950s considered by some to be the most collectible as it was in production for just 10 years.

To add to the fun nature of the brand, from the start buyers were encouraged to mix and match – there were single-colour matching dinner and tea services but most Fiestaware was sold as open stock in department stores to let buyers choose the colour combinations they preferred. Sales slumped in the 1960s and the company discontinued Fiestaware in 1972.

In the mid-1980s, having seen how popular the bright colour china was with collectors and vintage fans, Fiestaware went into production again with more colours and shapes. Multipiece sets of early Fiestaware can go well north of $1,000 on Ebay.