Superb condition Stylecraft Fashion Tableware - Midwinter c1950s Ceramic bottom plate with hand painted white rose design measures : 27cm x 10.5cm. Silver plate toast rack is in fabulous condition. Slight patina visible but majority of metalwork is shiny. (Can be removed off the plate) No cracks / breaks. Could still be used. 

Stylecraft

Stylecraft was introduced in 1953 and was the first of the ‘modern’ Midwinter wares. In summer 1952 Roy Midwinter had returned from a sales trip to Canada disappointed in the reception of the company’s offering, but with advice to examine the shapes and patterns being produced by new, young designers in California. On a subsequent visit to California Midwinter saw and embraced the work of designers such as Eva Zeisel, Russel Wright and Raymond Loewy that were designing new fluid organic forms very different to the tableware of the pre-war era. The result was ‘Stylecraft’, a modern shape that differentiated itself in the market, yet was practical and ‘not too different’. The range was released in February 1953 with ’40 shapes and 36 contemporary patterns’. The plates and other flatware were ‘squared’ with a narrow rim. Jessie Tait produced the great majority of patterns for the Stylecraft range. Best known today are Homeweave, Primavera, Fiesta, and Red Domino.

W. R. Midwinter Ltd used the trade name ‘Porcelon’ in the 1930s, possibly until c.1953. Post-war marks include the company name and many cases the shape name -‘Stylecraft’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Fine’, ‘Stonehenge’ etc. The name of the artist responsible for the pattern is also often included.