Ridgway Romany

by Ray on November 25, 2018

I’ve never come across a dinnerware set quite like this one before – consisting of 2 very different styles and production techniques.

The maker is RIDGWAY (Staffordshire). The cups and bowls are hand thrown from a terracotta clay and glazed in a dark olive green matt glaze – A great shape too – they are wide at the bottom and narrower at the top.

They’re really quite chunky – and you would think they were handmade by a studio potter – except for the stamp on the bottom.

In almost complete contrast is the bone china plate-ware designed for this setting. It is bone china, with hand-painted greens and blues – but when its all together – the design simply works, with the green hues of the plate ware tying it all together. I think it is a fascinating experiment in tying together traditional plate ware design, with the developing “hand made” movement of the late 1960s.

The pattern is “ROMANY”. (not to be confused with Denby Romany and many other makers who used this name during the 1960’s)

The backstamp is from the 1960’s. Ridgway were quite a large group of Staffordshire Potteries produced many brands including – Colclough, Paladin, Portland, Adderley and Gainsborough potteries.

Of course Ridgway were also the producers of the now iconic “Homemaker” by Enid Seeney