Oh Fiestaware, be still my beating heart.

Again in my list of someday in the far off future – Fiestaware.

I remember Christmas shopping with my mom when I was about nine years old at Yonkers. She stopped in front of the gigantic colorful display of fiestaware and said, “someday, I want to have fiestaware, I’ve always loved fiestaware.”

Or something to that nature.

Anyways, we have similar taste, so fiesta ware always stuck in my head as the very thing dream kitchens are made of.

I especially like the chipped and battered/well loved pieces of fiesta ware you can find at thrift shops.

I guess the reason why I’m so enamored with a goofy set of dinnerware, is that they carry a lot of symbolism for me. There’s always the memory of my mom stopping dead in her tracks every time she saw a fiestaware display. More recently, a certain diner I frequent with a certain boy uses fiestaware plates and bowls. So if that’s not adorable I don’t know what is. Finally, I like the history of the company. The company was created after the great depression in the midst of a cultural shift. Our country was finally pulling itself out of an economic maelstrom, and the world was gearing up for the most destructive war in world history (from which the US would emerge relatively unscathed). So with all of that in mind, what would be the draw to go back to matched place settings?

Now far be it from my to draw a parallel between worldwide cultural, economic, political revolutions, and, say, trends in dinnerware… (History and Political Science *cough*). But I can’t help but think that these huge cultural shifts can totally be seen in how Americans chose to make there homes.

I mean, you can’t ignore the shift from this…

to this…

I’m just saying… The 50’s might not have been entirely liberating… But you can’t deny that the aesthetic of the 50’s is naively beautiful. The US had just successfully ended a war, giving us a generation of upward mobility and economic growth. Men could support their family with a factory job and a high school education; and every family could own a cute cookie cutter ranch, with cute cookie cutter appliances.

So back to fiestaware fitting into that equation.

I love 50’s kitchen design. Its iconic and a bit rebellious – while still remaining cute and sweet. Oh sweet, fiestaware, someday you will make my dowry complete.

Ciao, Sweatergirl