Harts of Stur Kitchen Issue 6, spring & summer 2018 | Page 34

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History of Denby
Seize
the
Clay
I
n the early 19th century glass was
still expensive and stoneware jars
were essential and required all over
the world to hold commodities such
as medicines, preserves, pickles,
ink, polish, ginger beer and mineral
water. Denby still receives emails
and telephone calls when Denby’s
early bottles used in this way are
uncovered following excavations
from such diverse places as old army
forts in the USA, wells in India and
occasionally even from shipwrecks
on the seabed.
Towards the end of the 19th
century and, unusually for the era,
with a woman at the helm – Sarah
Elizabeth Bourne, Denby successfully
launched into coloured decorative
glazes to adorn Victorian artware.
Simultaneously, kitchenware ranges
were also extended, and the pottery
became one of the main producers of
telegraphic insulators.
By the 1920s, predicting changes
were ahead, Denby concentrated
on functional kitchenwares such
as colanders and pie dishes and
also extended its range of artware
further. As consumer and market
needs evolved again, it then began
its transformation into a producer of
tableware.
Following the lifting of restrictions
on materials which had been in
place during the Second World
War, Denby got back to producing
ceramics with striking colours in
tableware and giftware. Later,
during the sixties and seventies,
they created truly iconic dinnerware
ranges and oven-to-tableware to
meet the needs of the new dinner
party era.
Denby continues to design for the
current era with a wide offering of
products and designs which meet
the needs of today’s consumer.
There’s an extensive bowl range
(over twenty different shapes in
several colours) to mirror the rise
in bowl food, global cuisine and a
more casual approach to dining and
entertaining, mugs which fit under
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coffee pod machines, oven dishes
the exact width of a lasagne sheet
and cereal bowls which pass the
‘two Weetabix test’. The Denby team
seems to carefully observe needs and
real lives, and ‘co-create’ products
with consumers in mind to simplify
our lives without compromising on
beauty and style.
The beauty and style are in
no small part due to the many
traditional handcrafting techniques
and time-honoured skills still used
in its Derbyshire pottery. Ranges all
feature beautiful glazes, the recipes