John Julian Simple Mug

Crockery, good day to day crockery. is a feel and touch kind of thing. In essence the best designed pieces are the simplest, cleanest and purest of shape. That leads to the tricky problem of much looking the same. From supermarket through to high street, all the way up to designer and then the speciality makers.  

So what? In many ways I agree, however, it’s back to that touch and feel, if you’ve never used nor held a piece of John Julian crockery in your hands you’ll think it’s just the same, if you have, you know it’s simply not.

At home, I’m a convert to John Julian’s ‘classical’ porcelain range with features a fine cobalt line.

Life changing perhaps not, but certainly habit forming, beans on toast is now a far grander dish and morning coffee with the ‘simple’ mug becomes a far more sensual ritual, almost an English take on a French coffee bowls. 

Made by hand on the outskirts of picture perfect Wilton, each piece whilst looking fine has a pleasing weight to it, this is stuff to see you through a crisis. Stuff to use, not to save for visitors. 

Last time I bought some pieces, I drove the back way from my house to Wilton, it felt like the first proper day of spring, endless blue sky & wispy clouds shielding a low sun. Turned out to be day before we had that little drop of snow. Next morning, fire lit, coffee in hand, I felt even smugger than I looked. 

As for the coffee, we are blessed in the UK, it used to be beans from the Algerian Coffee Store and that was it, now pretty much every town has it’s own coffee company. Confirmed caffeine drinker I may be, but I’m also picky although, if you get beans from Dark Arts, Round Hill or Colonna you’ll be just fine. Today (November 2019 update) it was beans from Buku Sayisa #1 via Roundhill, claiming (accurately) to have notes of Rose Water, Hibiscus and Raspberry, Nespresso it is not, although Colonna do pods which are a no brainer if that’s your thing…