CORNISH icon

Owner Karina Rickards surrounded by iconic Cornishware which is available in a growing range of colours including red and orange

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Cornishware is a British design icon – famed for its blue and white stripes – with a timeless, instantly recognisable style, and a history that stretches back to 1924; first created by renowned pottery company TG Green in Derbyshire, when employee, Frederick Parker – inspired by Cornwall’s blue skies and white waves whilst holidaying in the county – came up with the radical design-classic, giving Cornishware its name. He then returned to pottery and decided to paint simple blue stripes. The rest, as they say, is history!

The classic design has stood the test of time, with its iconic stripes, adorning kitchens the world over. “When I’m sitting on a Cornish beach, I completely see why this ceramic artist came up with the idea. You see the clouds and the crest of the waves – the Atlantic blue of the sea. That, for me, is what Cornishware is all about. We’re still talking about Cornishware now, and it’s nearly 100 years later!” says owner Karina Rickards.

The brand reputability grew from strength to strength, yet as time progressed it became increasingly difficult for the Victorian pottery to compete with modern industry. In 2007 it closed, until Karina and Charles Rickards came to the rescue, restoring the iconic stripes to their rightful position in British kitchens and dining rooms.

With the entrepreneurial husband and wife duo now at the helm, the company is in an exciting stage of development – bringing production back to the UK, with biscuit-fired blanks now made by Royal Stafford in Stoke-on-Trent, and using the clay dug from St Austell in Cornwall – its range is decorated, glazed and fired in Cornishware’s West Country pottery.