Yes I’m totally aware the headline of this post could get one of two reactions: For the love of God do we need to buy a dedicated plate for biscuits now? Or: Excellent these are gorgeous and when I am surrounded by beautiful things I am just that little bit happier.
However you feel, these plates don’t actually come with instructions for biscuits. They would work brilliantly for tapas or nibbles or even pudding. I was drawn by the name but, more importantly, by the colours and shape of them. They are handthrown in Ireland and the colours – tea rose, parsnip, peat and bird egg blue – were inspired by the colours of Dublin’s Victorian fruit and veg market.
The set also includes these rather clever in and out mugs which take up less room on the shelf due the way they are shaped. Expensive? Yes? But mugs are tricky. We have lots of mugs in The Mad House and yet both The Mad Husband and I will only drink out of one each. I’m not quite sure why we bother having the other 47. Oh yes guests. But we also have more guests for wine than tea so….
Anyway, if you have open shelves like me, you will also be picturing these pretty things on those shelves and wondering if it’s a justifiable purchase for the prettiness alone? I’d be interested to know where we all stand on that. I could probably pass on the creamer jug thus saving myself £24 and being actually very sensible in my shopping. Although don’t even get me started on the bowls.
The collection is from Rowen and Wren and I am fiercely trying to find a way of justifying it. Perhaps I will just by myself one mug and one plate and use it when I am on my own during the working day. But which colour people, which colour?
If I had to chose it would be the pink.
Like this one:
https://www.jayzander.co.uk/_/Pictures_of_cocker_spaniels.html#26
Ohhhh – my path to (self) righteousness as a minimalist is littered with temptations….
1. Good grief, has the Wondrous Watson-Smyth lost her bloody mind?? A biscuit plate? A. Bloody. Biscuit. Plate. FFS.
Then wiser counsel prevailed. I used my eyes.
2. And, lo, ’twas wondrous to behold. A. Marvellous. Construction. A bissscuit plate. Or is it “a blisscuit plate”?
I want them all – plates and mugs. In each spirit (not colours, but spirits, I tell you).
Parrrsnip.
Tea Rose.
Peat.
Actually, perhaps not the bird egg one…
Brings back memories of going to my grandparents’ farm in Galway as a child, going to the Bog to cut peat, stack it and then when the turves of peat were delivered to the farm, doing the dull, hard work of creating a proper stack (20 feet long, 10 feet high, and there is real technique to it to ensure air circulation and drainage). Loved the Bog, hated the stacking at home.
And isn’t it worth the money just to have a mug and a Biscuit Plate? Called Parsnip Plate…
Kate, you are the Siren luring me onto the rocks of maximalism!
Actually, Parsnip would be a great name for a dog. A little golden Cocker Spaniel.
There is a part of me shrieking ‘how much?!’ and another saying ‘but they are handmade and you have to pay for that’, yet another bit of me (I seem to be suffering from split personality disorder this morning) is wondering why, in the bit of middle England that I live, so few people seem to recognise this fact and apparently think that it ought to be cheaper if it didn’t come from a factory somewhere, as though creating bespoke furniture, ceramics or textiles is/should be a hobby rather than a business. I think it must be something in the water….
Your first sentence made me giggle … I could quite easily convince myself of either sentiment when it comes to a biscuit plate. They certainly solve the problem of losing a sliding biscuit when traversing stairs or when the cat runs under your feet. The colours are beautiful! My first choice would be the bowls in the light sage and stone. And then pink for strawberry ice cream and the dark green for winter lentils.
Oh I love them! Yep I am totally in the “surround yourself with pretty things” camp! My gluten free vegan bars would taste a whole lot nicer on that pink plate ?
Mm I’m sorry to say they remind me a bit too much of Denby pottery- remember them or perhaps they still exist?
Yes the sage colour reminds me of a Denby crockery set that my parents used when I lived at home. My daughter inherited them.
They are very nice but too dear for everyday use.
I think this is a no-brainer – they’re so tactile as well as being pretty. And they’re handmade so it strikes me that £29 per mug is a bargain, frankly. That’s about 12 takeaway coffees. Or use the famous handbag maths – divide the price by the number of times you use it. And then there’s the pleasure of the handmade, not only in your hand but on those lovely open shelves. And the biscuit plates are a steal at a mere tenner each. They don’t even have to be for edibles – they’d make the perfect I-can’t-be-bothered-to-put-my-earrings-away container. And thanks for the Rowen and Wren tip-off. What a fabulous (and dangerous) site.
Ah, yes I love these too, whether or not there are biscuits around, they are gorgeous. Think I’d go for pink and olive green…
Judging by my favs on my instagram account Ceramics are my new fave sites. I seem to be developing a serious habit for flatware and bowls.!!!