The Spode Christmas Tree Collection is one of the most popular Christmas dinnerware and dinnerware collections in the world. As the name implies, the design features a beautifully decorated Christmas tree with gaily wrapped gifts strewn below, along with green bands and sprigs of holly. But did you know that this design came from an artist who had never seen a real Christmas tree before?
The story of the Spode Christmas tree begins in America in the 1930s. Spode was already known for its precious ceramics, having pioneered the method of reproducing the classical Chinese blue and white porcelain design in the late 18th century. Josiah Spode, an English potter, set the benchmark for all English porcelain when he mastered the design transfer and underglaze method. As his designs grew in popularity throughout Europe, they traveled to the New World as settlers from the Americas wanted to take a little piece of home with them.
In the 1930s, a man named Sydney Thompson was the only Spode agent in the United States. He traveled several times to the Spode factory in England with the aim of creating and developing new patterns and collections for his clients in America. He pored over all the old pattern books, looking for designs that he could revive and bring back to the US.
In 1938, he decided that his next venture would be a Christmas collection. However, all he could find in the old pattern books were holly designs, which he did not believe would be suitable for American clients. They wanted something that called for the ideas of family, tradition, and home.
Designer Harold Holdway was commissioned to come up with the design for the Spode Christmas Tree collection. His first effort of his, however, was laughable! He created a Christmas tree that has presents hanging from all the branches. Adorning the top of the tree? To Santa Claus! Holdway admitted that he had never seen a Christmas tree before.
Thompson took the designer aside and explained that the gifts went under the tree, not on top, and that the branches were decorated with ornaments. And at the top of the tree there must be a star or an angel. Holdway went back to the drawing board and came up with a much better design… but he kept Santa firmly planted in the treetop, where he remains to this day!