The new blue: Delftware comes across the pond
If you’re a journalist, you’re trained to recognize that if some new behavior shows up on your radar once, it’s interesting. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a story.
When I first noticed the barrage of handpainted blue-and-white pottery — ginger jars, vases, ceramic stools
— in home stores and catalogs, I made a mental note: “Hmmm, interesting. Are those pieces I saw as a girl in my parents’ house, alongside those Hummel figurines, coming back?”
Later, while interviewing an interior designer and trend expert about the New Traditionalist movement, bringing traditional looks back into the home in unexpected ways, I asked for an example. “It’s putting Delftware in an all-white modern Miami apartment,” said the trend spotter, Karen Wolf, of New Jersey.
“You mean that old-fashioned, blueand-white pottery?” I asked, dusting off my recollection of the iconic hand painted-pieces named for the town in The Netherlands where they’re made.
“Have you seen it lately?” she asked. “Royal Delft has completely reinterpreted its product, and it’s coming across the pond in a big way,” she said.
Coincidence, I thought.
Then, just before the holidays, my husband, who lost his mom a few months ago, went to Pittsburgh to help clear out her house. Perhaps he took a page from my book, “Downsizing the Family Home,” because he came home with only a precious few mementos, including two handpainted Delft pieces: a plate and a tile.
“Why these?” I asked, curious that out of everything, he chose these. They remind him of a trip he took in 1984 with his mom, sister and grandfather to Delft, where his mom bought them, he said, and also, he added “because I like them.”
Three is a story. The story, I discover, begins over 400 years ago when the Dutch East India Co., founded in 1602 to protect Dutch trading interests in the Indian Ocean, stumbled on white porcelain with blue decorations in China.
Think Ming vases. The Dutch imported this “Chinoiserie” back to Europe, where it quickly became popular. May I interrupt? If schools only taught history through home decor, I just might have paid attention.
Anyway, by the middle of that century, civil war in China shut down the importing. So some enterprising Dutch folks tried copying the Chinoiserie, including, beginning in 1653, a Delft factory called De Porceleyne Fles, which later became Royal Delft. The copies were a hit. Soon the Dutch artists began swapping out the Chinese motifs of pagodas, dragons and elephants, for windmills, tulips and cows.
Obsessed, I make some phone calls to find out whether I’m right, whether hand-painted blue-and-white pottery in general, and Delft in particular, is trending, and, if so, why.
Helen Taylor, spokeswoman for Royal Delft, confirmed my hunch. “The past couple of years we have noticed an increase in demand and interest for Royal Delft, particularly in the states,” she said, in a series of email exchanges to and from The Netherlands (Met vriendelijke groet, Helen, or kind regards).
Part of that is because of Royal Delft’s updated line, Blue D 1653, which gives the classic Delft patterns a modern twist. This is not your grandma’s Delft.
Others are reinterpreting the historic patterns, too. This month, designer Nicolette Mayer, of Boca Raton, Florida, released a line of Royal Delftinspired wallpaper and fabrics — http://www. nicolettemayer.com/ — after getting the company’s blessing, which is not easy.
“We do not often license another company or designer to use our designs,” said Taylor, acknowledging that Mayer’s reinterpretation marks the first time that Royal Delft designs have appeared on wallpaper and fabric.
“I’ve always loved Delftware,” said Mayer, who grew up in South Africa surrounded by Delft pottery given the heavy Dutch influence there. “It’s historical, and has this classic nature which is strangely modern.”
Here’s what else I learned lay behind the trend:
• Sick of slick. “The younger generation is getting tired of machine-made, technologydriven, monochromatic items,” Wolf said. “They want handmade pieces that have a story, and that bring authenticity to their life and home.” Royal Delft Blue products fit into that category.
• Blue and white is hot. “We’re seeing a definitive move away from gray and white, and white on white toward blue and white in homes,” said Wolf, adding that the blue-andwhite craze is especially popular in kitchens.
• Pattern is back. After a long spell of simple solids, consumers are embracing pattern again; Delftware answers that trend, as well.
• The doors are coming off. “Open shelving is also trending,” she said, “which raises the question of what do you fill it with?” With a blue and white palette, you can combine pieces that have a different patterns and origins; Royal Delft dishes from Holland and Ming-inspired vases from China all go together. • Everything’s indigo. “Finally,” Wolf added, “we’re in the midst of a big indigo craze, and Delft falls right into that.”
How does it fit into today’s home?
Because of its international history, the look is at home in European, Asian, American, Modern or rustic-style homes, Mayer said.
Consider a collection of urns, platters, ginger jars and vases in the kitchen, or on a buffet in the dining room; Delftinspired wallpaper in your entryway or powder room; and an assortment of Delft-fabric pillows in a guest room.
Where can you buy it? You can buy Royal Delft at www.royaldelft.com, and stateside through Scully & Scully in New York. Many pieces are also on Amazon and eBay, but verifying authenticity can be difficult. Many lookalikes are not hand painted. A genuine Royal Delft piece has a hand-painted signature and the word “Delft” on the underside.