Hornsea Saffron

by Ray on January 28, 2019

Another of my Hornsea favourites from the 1970s is “Saffron” – which was produced from 1970, tailing off and ending by 1992.

Saffron was designed along with most of the designs from Hornsea during this period by John Clappison. It was produced in the same shapes as Heirloom and Bronte – and all of these designs were hugely successful. Again many of the canisters were printed with a label of the intended item, and all had wooden lids with a rubber seal.

The pattern and colour of Saffron work really well together…and like all John Clappison designs of this era were screen printed – which in part was because of the growing shortage of skilled pattern painters in this era.

The design has lovely circular flower motifs in a caramel-saffron colour contrasting with the burnt orange of the background. Combined these colours give an almost 3D effect. I also really like the interiors too with their luscious thick, soft cream colour.

Flatware for this series was a plain caramel colour, with concentric grooves around the rim.

Along with Heirloom and Bronte it was made in such huge quantities that it is still reasonably priced and fairly easily available, although the shapes which got more use (and hence broken) like Coffee Mugs, are always highly coveted.

I’m a big fan of the Hornsea teapots too, as they are the perfect size – not too big, not too small, and from this era by John Clappison have non-drip spouts.

You will find a variety of backstamps on Hornsea Saffron – depending on when it was produced.