Blue Floral

Blue Floral gathers the pieces painted in cobalt on white — the oldest colour pairing in ceramics and still the hardest to improve on. Tulips, peonies, cremon flowers, lilies and tarot-inspired botanicals are drawn freehand in blue underglaze onto white stoneware, then fired until the blue sinks into the glaze.

What is in the collection

Mostly drinkware: hand-painted blue and white ceramic mugs, tea cups, tumblers and travel mugs, with bowls, plates, jewellery dishes and ring holders alongside them. Some pieces are dense with pattern from lip to foot; others leave most of the white showing and place a single stem where it will be seen when the cup is lifted.

If you have been looking for a handmade blue floral mug, a cobalt botanical tea cup or a blue and white travel mug that is not mass produced, this is the collection to browse.

Why cobalt behaves differently

Blue underglaze is unforgiving in a way other colours are not. It shows every hesitation, and it cannot be lifted once it is down — there is no painting over a wrong line on raw clay. Each flower is drawn in one pass, which is why the brushwork here looks confident rather than careful.

Cobalt also shifts in the kiln. The same blue can come out deep and inky on one piece and softer, almost grey-blue, on another, depending on how thickly it was laid and where the piece sat during firing. That variation is the character of the collection rather than an inconsistency in it.

Some pieces carry 24K gold on the rim or in the detailing, applied after the main firing and set in a third, cooler one.

A note on the tradition

Blue and white is not a style we invented, and it would be strange to pretend otherwise. Cobalt on a white ground has travelled from Chinese porcelain through Iznik and Kütahya to Delft and back again, and every one of those places bent it into something local.

These pieces sit in that line without imitating any particular period of it. The flowers are drawn from what grows here now rather than copied from a museum plate, which is the only honest way to work in a tradition this old.

How each piece is made

Clay is wedged, thrown or slab-built, and left to dry to leather hardness. The surface is refined, the handle pulled and attached by hand, and the painting done directly on the raw clay with a loaded brush — no transfers, stencils or printed decals anywhere in the process.

The piece is then bisque fired, glazed and fired again to 1200°C. Stoneware at that temperature becomes dense and hard-wearing, which is what separates a mug you use daily from a decorative one. From wet clay to finished cup takes about a week.

Care and everyday use

The glazes are food safe, and pieces without gold are microwave safe. Warm water and a soft sponge are enough for cleaning; abrasive scourers will dull the surface over time on any glazed ceramic.

Keep gold-detailed pieces out of the microwave — metallic lustre and microwaves do not mix. And avoid thermal shock: let a cold cup warm up before filling it with boiling water, and do not move a piece from fridge to oven. Sudden temperature change is the main thing that damages handmade stoneware; ordinary daily use is not.

Sizes

Capacity and dimensions are listed on each product page in millilitres and centimetres, shown in fluid ounces and inches for visitors in the US. As every piece is thrown by hand, treat those numbers as close approximations. Tea cups generally hold 200 to 300 ml, everyday mugs 300 to 450 ml, and travel mugs around 350 to 400 ml.

Blue and white as a gift

Cobalt on white suits almost any kitchen, which makes this an easy collection to buy from for someone whose taste you only half know. It reads as classic without being old-fashioned, and it sits comfortably next to both plain white china and darker glazed pieces.

Orders arrive gift-wrapped, and you can add a note at checkout. Each piece is one of a kind — once it sells, that exact cup is gone, so if a particular flower catches you it is worth not waiting.

Where it is made

Every piece is shaped, painted and fired in a small atelier in Kütahya, in western Türkiye — a town that has been producing ceramics for around six hundred years, and where blue and white has a long local history of its own. Orders are packed by hand and ship worldwide.