Often when a group of historically significant objects is broken up it is viewed as a loss in the eyes of historians. Pieces of rare China, for example, may be individually sold off from a set and become statement pieces, isolated from their legacy and therefore forgotten. However, this Dansk stoneware mug and ceramics like it tell a different story. Although separated from its original three-piece set, through online dealing on platforms like Etsy it has been combined with pieces of other sets to become part of a unique ceramic group. As a one-of-a-kind set, these objects can continue to reveal their evolving social context to historians.
This stoneware mug is of a Dansk style known as BLT (Breakfast, Lunch and Tea), characterized by its brown sandstone body and single brown stripe.1 Some versions also exist with a blue stripe, but all variations of this style have been discontinued. BLT dinnerware was manufactured and sold in sets of three pieces with a mug, a bowl, and a plate under the slogan “Less is enough.”2 Additional dishes, including small plates, sugar bowls and creamers were produced in the same style, but not as a collective set for a large family.
Ted and Martha Nierenberg founded Dansk in 1954 to “bring the elegant simplicity and natural materials of Scandinavian design to the American market at reasonable prices.”3 The primary inspiration for the company came from Denmark, denoted by the name which is the Danish word for Danish. Over the years, Dansk has largely stuck to traditional, mid-century designs derived from Danish dinnerware.
As may be expected with a company as long-lived as Dansk, very few of its original designs are still in production. While made from relatively inexpensive material, the limited number of BLT sets has boosted their value and made them a feature in museums as well as kitchens.4 With the increase in value of pieces like this and the use of online platforms like Etsy and eBay to conduct sales, an inevitable consequence is that sets of dishes are broken up. In fact, it is rare to see a complete, original BLT set for sale on any online platform. However, a quick examination of the BLT pieces for sale shows that buying and selling these pieces online can also have the opposite effect, with pieces from multiple sets being combined to be sold in groupings that were never produced by Dansk.
Sets like this therefore hold a precarious position in the world of modern ceramics. On the one hand, they are not so rare that owners will value keeping pieces together above all else. Their identical manufacturing ensures that any mug will go with any plate of the same style, and there is not the risk of mismatching sets as there may be with fine China and porcelain. At the same time, their limited quantity and unique look is enough to make them sought after. With the visibility provided by online shopping, the social context of ceramics like these will continue to evolve as they are brought together into new combinations to suit the individual needs of modern consumers.
- “Each Little World: China Syndrome,” 2011. https://www.lindabrazill.com/each_little_world/2011/08/china-syndrome.html. ↩︎
- “Vintage Dansk BLT Sandstone 3 Piece Place Setting,” Etsy, 2023. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1521775506/vintage-dansk-blt-sandstone-3-piece. ↩︎
- “The Dansk Revolution,” Dansk, 2023. https://www.dansk.com/pages/about. ↩︎
- Mel Studach, “Food52 Acquires Dansk, Plans for Danish-Designed Homeware Brand’s Revival,” ADPRO, 2021. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/food52-acquires-dansk-plans-for-the-danish-homeware-brands-revival. ↩︎
cgpartifact 