Tableware Blog

Purbeck Pottery's origins are not that old when compared to many of the UK's best known potteries. It wasn't until 1966 when a small group led by Stanley Laws formed a new limited company and purchased premises, previously owned by the Branksome China group, in Seamoor Road, Westbourne, Dorset. Interesting, all but one of the founding Directors were ex employees of the more famous Poole Pottery. Together they recognised the growing demand of the time for stoneware tableware and decorative items; a demand that Poole Pottery were struggling to meet due to their already over burdened production capacity. The founding...

So often when people ask what I do, and I tell them, "I run a china matching service", I'm met with blank stares. The reality is unless you have used one, you are unlikely to be familiar with the concept. Even if you need to use one, you won't seek one out, as you don't know they exist. As a business, that's one of our biggest challenges, letting people know we exist. So... what is a 'china matching service'? In short, we replace the missing pieces of customers tableware services, be they dinner, tea, coffee or serving ware, when their...

When it comes to buying replacement china for your discontinued dinner, tea or coffee service, there are a number of options open to you. We have listed these below ranked, based on the most likely to be successful. China Replacement/China Matching Services China Replacement Services, such as MrPottery, are an obvious choice. Certainly, they are likely to offer the speediest solution as many carry large stocks of discontinued china, and in our case, have a vast network of buyers scouring the second hand market for pieces our customers are seeking that we do not have in stock. You can also...

Are there any other tableware designs from the 1960's as iconic as Denby "Arabesque"? Ironically it was never intended to be a full set of tableware. It was originally a small gift ware set, designed by Gill Pemberton in 1962. The set only included a large goblet, a salad bowl and some storage jars. However, it caught people's imagination with it's red and gold hand-painted design and the set was extended to include the full dinner, tea and coffee service as well as serving and cookware, cutlery and additional giftware. The red and gold design was actually inspired by a...

How to measure the size of tableware pieces, is the subject of conversation that comes up surprisingly often here at MrPottery HQ. After all, you want to make sure you are buying the right size piece to complete your set. It can be particularly tricky with older designs, which were made when production runs were much longer, and resulted in potteries changing the shape from time to time. How you measure it is really up to you. As for the potteries, well they each seem to have their own versions, along with their own names for pieces. So, how do we...