Usefulness and Longevity: a Q&A with Feldspar

“We mainly design things that we are missing, or can’t find anywhere. So the butter dish, for example, we designed because we just couldn’t find one that we liked.”

Dartmoor-based design brand Feldspar is not interested in creating things for the sake of it. Several years ago its founders, husband and wife Jeremy and Cath Brown, upped sticks from Hackney and set off for the Devonshire countryside. Feldspar was never part of the plan but faced with furnishing their new home, a 400-year-old Devon longhouse on an isolated patch of Dartmoor, the duo set about making everything themselves. Somewhere along the way, they realised they’d created a new design brand.

Feldspar products are designed to last and the brand is committed to using the very best materials to craft its evolving collection of contemporary homewares. While delicate vessels and tableware are formed out of English fine bone china, super-fine Geelong lambswool is used to knit jacquard blankets. The couple prototype each product in their moorland studio before they are made by some of the most skilled craftspeople around the UK.

The introduction of new products to the Feldspar collection is driven by the materials which most intrigue and excite Cath and Jeremy. Currently the pair are working on the process of extracting clay from their back garden. “It’s a combination of china clay and terracotta, so it is a beautiful orange colour and can be used to create thin-walled vessels,” says Cath. “We can process the clay right from the ground and create a finished object right here at our studio.”  

Eager to hear more, below we grilled Cath on the rationale that lies behind Feldspar’s material-led approach.

Why are materials so important to Feldspar?

We strive to make things the best they can be and the materiality of an object plays a huge part in this. Our mugs, for example, are English fine bone china. It is the strongest and finest ceramic that you can find so it allows us to produce very thin-walled vessels, which are more pleasing to drink out of. Using fine bone china, we can also create irregular and dimpled shapes without losing their strength and usefulness. It also means that they can be made by potters in Stoke-on-Trent, where the material was invented and has been manufactured ever since. So the reason for using fine bone china is multi-faceted and very important in the idea of the object as well as the manufacturing.

You work with specialist craftspeople from all over the UK. How do you identify the craftspeople that you collaborate with and how is your relationship with them formed?

We do lots of research, so mostly lots of phoning around until we find people that we can work with. In Stoke on Trent we had a huge list of manufacturers that we called one by one but sadly they’d all either closed or moved their manufacturing to China, so in the end, the shortlist was much shorter. We then visited Stoke, met the craftspeople and looked around the factories and saw examples of items that they’d made. The manufacturers we work with in Stoke are all generational potters – it’s a real privilege to work with people who have such amazing skills, honed over decades. The cobalt and gold handle on our mugs are hand-painted by the very same hands that paint the china for the Royal Collection. Watching them work is amazing.

Stoke on Trent is famed for its traditional potteries. What is the value of Feldspar products being made there? Likewise for the blankets being hand-knitted in Scotland?

We want to make everything in locations where there is a tradition of that industry. It is important to us that these regional centres aren’t just museums of what once was – there is so much knowledge and skill there still, and to be able to utilise that skill is brilliant. The quality and integrity that these makers bring to the manufacturing process is amazing. The blankets are made in Scotland because there is a couple there who have the ability to create the most beautiful pictures on the blankets – they’re real works of art. They work with heritage Scottish woollen mills and use the finest merino lambswool in the world – Super Geelong Lambswool – which has a micron density similar to cashmere but the strength and durability of lambswool.

Can you tell us a little about the process of introducing new products? How do you decide which new products to introduce, their design and what materials to incorporate?

We mainly design things that we find we’re missing, or can’t find anywhere. So the butter dish, for example, we designed because we just couldn’t find one that we liked anywhere. The answer was to make one ourselves and since we launched it we’ve had so much feedback from customers who’d been looking for ages for one that they liked. We’re not in the business of creating stuff just for the sake of it, that’s why we stick to more unusual objects. Next in line are egg cups (with lids: very important) and sugar bowls accompanied by tiny spoons. Not exactly mass market!

You do all prototyping in your studio. Can you tell us a little about this process and what it involves?

We sketch out designs on paper and then create clay or plaster models of our ideas. We then revise them over and over to create a prototype that we’re both happy with. We use this prototype to make a mould to then cast in fine bone china, or we get samples made if we’re not able to make them ourselves at the studio (with the blanket for example). We’re working at the moment with several different materials – it is important to us to continually explore different materials to see where we can take them. We’re currently working with Jesmonite in the studio, and also looking to get back into woodwork (Jeremy originally only worked with wood building a boat, so it’s a return to familiar ground), as well as processing our own clay from the garden. It’s a combination of china clay and terracotta, so is a beautiful orange colour but can be used to create thin-walled vessels which we can process from ground to finished object right here at our studio!

Tell us about your work with Jesmonite. Why is a good fit for the Feldspar collection?

Jesmonite is a material that really appeals to us because it is so versatile, we can do small batch production from our studio in Devon to test different products without needing to commit to big runs. It’s a brilliant material - lots of fun to experiment with in terms of colour and texture also.

Enjoyed this escape to the Devon countryside? Why not have a trip around Norway in this week's GOOD news.