Friday 12 June 2009

Plate Friday











Elizabeth (About New York) has suggested we all put on some of our favourites plates or dishes today.What will our choice of plates say about us, she wonders. Well - you can make your own opinion about what my plates say about me - but one thing is sure if you read my blog - I love flowers - both wild and cultivated (I was going to put tame, but some of my herbaceous plants in the front garden are certainly not tame - Michaelmas Daisy for one)!
The plates which are my avourites are in the Portmeirion range of pottery. I collected them for many years and never tire of them. They sit on my Welsh dresser in the farm kitchen and I look at them every day. Each one has a different flower and I have chosen my favourite from tea, desert and dinner sizes.
The designs were originally created by Susan Williams-Ellis, the daughter of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis who created Portmeirion village in North Wales. If you have not heard of this Italianate village do go to the Portmeirion village web site, where you will see beautiful photographs of this jewel.
Susan (who died in 2007) studied first at Dartington where she came in contact with Bernard Leach, the potter. Then she went on to read Fine Art at Chelsea taught by Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland amongst others. Then her father invited her to create a range for sale in the gift shop in his village, so in 1960 she purchased a factory in Stoke on Trent and began her designs. I think they are still as fresh and "modern" as they were fifty years ago. Hope you like them too.
Just as an afterthought - my other china is Minton "Haddon Hall", an old design which has been on the go for many years. Needless to say it too has flowers!
Hope you enjoy reading about plates. If you go to About New York you will find more to look at.
Valerie (Acornmoon) who is a designer - she has some lovely designs on her blog - suggests we might follow this up with a Mug Monday one week. What do you think?

24 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

these are lovely plates, I'll post mine later today! Mug Munday would be fun,

Heather said...

I was just going to photograph my plates and found that you had already done so for me!! I have those very Portmerion designs - they are lovely aren't they? As you say, one never tires of them. The Minton one is very beautiful. I think a Mug Monday would be a great idea - I have lots of those too.

steven said...

hi weaver of grass! i love the portmeirion. i bought it for my mum for years. now i wonder what she's done with it all? mug monday sounds like a great idea. i travel to great lengths - on my bicycle - to visit potters who make beautiful glazes for mugs they make. then i pack them tightly up and ride them back home to use each morning. i hadn't thought of sharing them with others to see. steven

Caroline Gill said...

Another lovely post, Weaver. You put such a lot of thought into your pieces and I always learn so much from them. How lovely to have a Welsh dresser. I have yet to go to Portmeirion - a long way from here (in terms of distances in Wales, that is!) - but I love Anglesey, & have enjoyed Simon King's recent Springwatch broadcasts from the island. Do let us know when it will be Mug Monday!

Dave King said...

That's a really fine collection. Objects of great beauty every one. Thanks for posting them.

Elizabeth said...

I think if I had had to guess what plates you had , I think I would have come up with these quintessentially English ones. So very lovely.

Unknown said...

Hello Weaver,

I have joined in the fun! Your plates are typically English (or should we say Welsh?!) and we might know that flowers would feature. We have a coaster/butter dish and toothpick container in Haddon Hall, which I always think attractive.

sexy said...
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Kat Mortensen said...

I agree. I do think they are very fresh and modern looking. Port Meirion has some wonderful pieces. Thanks for sharing yours.

Kat

Tess Kincaid said...

Gorgeous! And so YOU, Weaver! Fun to peek into this part of your life.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Perfect plates for displaying on a welsh dresser, so they can be continually enjoyed, Weaver - they are beautiful.

(I might post our plates next Friday!)

Leslie said...

I love your flower plates! Just the thing for this time of year . . . or any time!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks - am just off to do a tour of other plates on other blogs. On the suggestion of a Mug Monday, made by acornmoon (herself a super designer of mugs) I suggest that Mug Monday be Monday June 22nd. I also suggest we photograph them in a table setting (Country Living?)
Anybody fancy joining in?

Hildred said...

Lovely delicate designs Weaver - and you have a Welsh Dresser too! (sigh)

I will be around for Mug Monday...

Acornmoon said...

Monday June the 22nd it is! Mug Monday here we come!

I have Potrmeirion on my dresser too by the way.

Denise Burden said...

I had no idea that the designs were 50 years old. They look so fresh.
I suppose that shows that good design is timeless.

Janice Thomson said...

Wonderful plates Weaver - such delightful. Look forward to a mug day too!

gleaner said...

Yes they are lovely plates..I'll post mine later today. I've spent a bit of time visiting Elizabeth's blog and then wandered off to visit other blogs on her site...hmmm, I wonder how people keep up with their long lists of blog favourites.

Barrie said...

I think those plates are timeless. Thank you for sharing.

Cloudia said...

Gold-plated post!
Charming...Aloha-

Woman in a Window said...

I think this is terribly interesting. (Am I dull?) Yes, your plates say you love flowers, appreciate quality and are discerning. Mine are big ole chipped hearty red plates, or enamelware plates from eons ago. Utilitarian and yet, to me, lovely.

Frances said...

I love the designs of all your plates, and have long been a Portmerion fan, hoping some day to get to see the village itself.

Yes, Elizabeth had a grand idea.

Also like Acornmoon's notion of Mug Monday.

Best wishes.

The Weaver of Grass said...

MUG MONDAY JUNE 22ND

Cathy said...

I think mug monday is a great idea and I have just the mug. Love your china too.