Replacements, Ltd.

Fiesta by Homer Laughlin - History

 

Homer Laughlin’s Fiesta is the best selling dinnerware in American history. Well over 500 million pieces have been produced in the last 70 years. The story of the pattern’s design and manufacture is one that is very interesting. First introduced at a trade show in Pittsburgh in 1936, Fiesta came to represent a new era of tableware design and marketing. The pattern was bold, nontraditional, and even a bit eccentric. The Homer Laughlin Co. realized their pattern could potentially be ignored by consumers as something that would quickly lose its appeal. Although the pattern embraced the spirit of the times with its bright colors, simple design, and unique art deco shapes, its departure from the ordinary placed the Homer Laughlin Co. in a precarious position regarding their investment.

Homer Laughlin hired the famed Stoke-on-Trent designer Frederic Rhead to design Fiesta . Beginning at the age of 19, Rhead took a number of jobs around the world that included working as art director for Wardel Pottery, Roseville Pottery, and professor of ceramics and pottery at University City Pottery in St. Louis. In 1916, he began publishing The Potter, a monthly trade magazine. From Stoke-on-Trent, England to San Diego, California, Rhead became a huge success within the ceramics and pottery industry. His appeal was the ability to adapt to changing tastes and new forms of art. Whether art nouveau, arts and crafts, naïf, art deco, or modern international, Rhead could produce aesthetically pleasing designs for the contemporary table.

When Homer Laughlin hired Rhead to design Fiesta, the company set out to produce a pattern that had no decals or extraneous ornamentation. The consumer’s eye was supposed to be drawn only to the color and the form of each piece. Each piece was to feature glorious curves. Homer Laughlin did not want a pattern that was too rigid for the average consumer. In keeping with the 1930’s zeitgeist, each piece featured concentric rings.  Rhead worked with Dr. A. V. Blenininger and H.W. Thiemecke. In an article for the Pottery and Glass Journal, Rhead said that picking the final colors was one of the more difficult processes of making Fiesta. Five colors were initially introduced in 1936 with a sixth being added one year later. You can see a color chart for Fiesta by clicking here .

Today, Fiesta colors are bright and are in constant flux. Homer Laughlin continues to test market its colors just as the company did in the 1930’s. New colors are added while others are discontinued based on consumer tastes. In addition to the wide variety of colors that Homer Laughlin has produced over the years, there have also been a number of decal patterns that have been design and marketed. These patterns include, Fiesta Child’s Tea Set , Fiesta Hometown Heroes , and Some Bunny’s . One thing is for sure, Fiesta will forever represent an American tableware tradition. Just as Homer Laughlin and Frederic Rhead intended, eyes will always be drawn to the bright colors and comely shape of the Fiesta pattern.