Feldspar create ‘objects for life’ - beautiful things made properly (and to last) with an elegant and simple aesthetic to weather the trends of time. Jeremy and Cath Brown began by making a mug for coffee, with a wonky profile to sit perfectly in the hand and a fine handle hand-painted in a deep cobalt blue to echo the palette of classic chinaware. Feldspar uses a traditional method called 'slip casting' - pouring liquid clay into plaster moulds – to make its wares. Anxious to preserve the skills and craft required to keep bone china production going in England, Feldspar now have two workshops in Devon as well as working closely with a family run pottery in Stoke on Trent.
Learn a little more about Feldspar, our latest Walpole member, in our interview with its founders, Jeremy and Cath Brown.
Walpole: What is your brand best known for?
Jeremy and Cath Brown: Modern and perhaps slightly eccentric fine bone china homewares. Everything is intentionally wonky but elegant: fine-walled, but with dimples to sit better in the hand. Everything is minimally decorated too, just finished with a transparent glaze that brings out the bright white of the fine bone china and a slick of colour either on the hand or around the rim.
What has been a significant achievement in your company’s timeline?
Having to bring our production in-house has, looking back, been an awesome achievement. We still work with the same family-run factory up in Stoke-on-Trent, but have set up two workshops in Devon that now produce about 80% of our wares. Making bone china by hand, the way we do it, is a traditional craft but a dying industry, so we’re continually having to innovate as our specialist suppliers go out of business.
Why do you love the brand?
We love that our objects are totally trend-free. We have no semblance of seasonality, and the mugs we make today are the same as the mugs we’ve always made. It is a more sustainable approach to homewares, a customer can collect our range over years or decades. We hand-paint everything too so the marks of the makers are intentionally evident too. Our wares are refined and elegant, and yet you can still sense the careful hands that have made them.
Why does your brand represent the very best in British luxury?
We set up Feldspar so we wouldn’t have to compromise on any aspect of what we were designing and making, so we’ve been able to use paper milled in the Lake District to make our packaging, for example. We hand-make everything using old crafting techniques that are becoming rarer and rarer. These processes, developed hundreds of years ago, take time, patience and skill to create something beautiful that will last – and that's something that we believe really represents British luxury.
What attracted you to becoming a Walpole member?
We were selected as one of Walpole’s Brands of Tomorrow for 2022, and found the programme and Walpole members so helpful, kind and supportive that we didn’t think twice when it came to becoming members.
If you could collaborate with another Walpole member, which one would you choose (and what would you like to do)?
It would be a lot of fun to make something for a Belmond train. Just the thought of having fine bone china onboard a train is a wonderful thing.
Tell us about an exciting development or new launch for your brand in the coming months?
We have just released our first lighting range: a pendant and ceiling rose both handmade in fine bone china. Bone china is translucent and we cast the shades a little finer than our tableware to enhance this – they are opaque white by day and glow at night. We’re soon adding a table lamp to this new collection. And we’re also just putting the finishing touches to our new wood workshop, so we can expand our collection. Watch this space!