Hornsea "Carnival"

Hornsea Carnival was produced from 1984 to 1986 and was designed to complement Hornsea’s Stripes range. Brian Heckford records it as a seven-piece tableware range, attractively packaged in a 20-piece boxed set with a plastic carrying handle, giving it a very recognisable mid-1980s retail feel.

The design is simple, bold and cheerful. Flatware was made with a coloured border in red, yellow or green, with a narrow black line inside the band, while the holloware carried the same decoration around the bottom of the piece. The clean white ground keeps the look crisp, and the strong border colour gives Carnival far more impact than many plain white tableware patterns.

The seven pieces recorded for the range were plates in three sizes, cup, saucer, soup or cereal bowl, and mug. This makes Carnival a relatively compact Hornsea range rather than a large dinner service with extensive serving ware, which helps explain why individual pieces are not seen as often as some of the better-known Hornsea patterns.

As a discontinued Hornsea Pottery range, Carnival is now mainly found through the pre-loved market and is often sought by customers looking for replacement china to complete, extend or match an existing set. Availability can vary by colour and piece type, especially where buyers are trying to match red, yellow or green borders within an existing table setting.

When matching Hornsea Carnival replacement pieces, the key details to check are the white body, the broad coloured border, the fine black line and the position of the decoration. Red is especially striking, but the same Carnival design was also produced with yellow and green border options.