London Calling

I hope, given that it’s the weekend, that you are having tea and toast in bed. Actually scrub that, given the image below I hope at the very least that it’s cake. Either way, stop looking at the food for a sec and check out the crockery.

They are the work of a designer called Snowden Flood who has created a range of tableware in homage to the city she loves. She spent time working in New York for a firm of architects where she made bespoke pieces for clients. On her return in 2000 she set up her store where she sells the work of other designers and not just her own.

“I’ve made and designed things ever since I can remember,” she says. “First from market stalls selling my own earrings and clothing and later I won a scholarship to do my Masters in Sculpture at Parsons School of Design in NYC. I started working for the Brooklyn Museum and then the architecture and interiors firm Peter Marino Architects.

“We worked on projects including the Four Seasons Hotels, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel Stores as well as in the private homes of some very well-known people. When you work with clients like this, compromise is not an option and they expect – and get – absolute perfection. That very much informs my approach to making my products.”

These plates were first created for a set of cross stitch cushions but, as Snowden points out, there’s a 200-year-old tradition of painting buildings onto plates so she’s carrying that on. Also, as she points out, very much in line with The Mad House philosophy it’s boring when everything’s the same so here’s a set where nothing matches.

The bone china mugs are inspired by a walk along the River Thames incorporating some of the city’s best known landmarks. This plate and mug below might just be my favourite. I love Tower Bridge and these colours are just gorgeous. It’s actually called the Bargello set, which is a type of flamestitch, but it makes me think of Missoni.

I’d like a pair of summer trousers in this pattern. I should point out that the teaset at the top is new to the range and traces the path of the River Thames in platinum. It also comes in blue and it’s all made in Stoke on Trent.