Visitors to London’s Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall this festive season can indulge in a little gift shopping thanks to a thoughtfully curated pop-up by Devon-based design studio Feldspar. Founded in 2016 by Cath and Jeremy Brown, the brand has gained acclaim for its ‘objects for life’ – fine bone china ceramics and homeware made for modern life but rooted in traditional craftsmanship and design.
Bone china production is listed as an endangered craft in Britain, which is why Feldspar is so passionate about making its wares in the UK – everything is produced in its Devon studio or by a family pottery in Stoke on Trent using traditional slip casting and hand painting.
Marking the studio's first foray into shopkeeping, the pop-up blends seamlessly into the Whitehall hotel’s elegant surroundings, marrying the bone china brand’s artisanal philosophy with the charm of old-world hotel interiors: think deep green paneling, polished walnut vitrines with tactile, rounded edges, and a bauble display echoing vintage hotel key racks.
We caught up with Cath and Jeremy during the pop-up’s first week to find out how the concept came to life and what visitors can expect from this rare retail experience.
Feldspar's founders reflect on creating their first physical shop space
Wallpaper*: What inspired the design of the pop-up?
Jeremy Brown: For the store we were inspired by old-fashioned hotel experiences – panelled walls with white detailing to pick up on the white of our bone china. The deep brown polished walnut vitrines add a sense of heritage and tradition but are shaped like our ceramics with rounded, tactile edges. And the bauble display behind the counter is inspired by hotel keys, all hanging up in a neat grid. From 1 December this display will transform into an advent calendar too, with a new hand-painted bauble each day showcasing our ever-growing library of colours.
W*: What has it been like bringing all your wares together in one space at the Corinthia Hotel?
JB: It’s wonderful to have everything all together on show. Even at the workshop, it’s rare that we have everything on display. It gives a chance to see the difference between sizes, and we’ve found customers are discovering new pairings of products, but also just the magnitude of our collection. Because we don’t subscribe to trends or seasonal ranges, every style we’ve ever made we continue to make, so the collection has been slowly but steadily growing throughout the years.
W*: Can you share more about the exclusive new objects and collaborations launching at the pop-up?
Cath Brown: Our first launch at the pop-up is our nutcracker – it’s a pretty big branching-out for us, as it’s made from walnut and brass rather than ceramic. Jeremy originally trained as a woodworker and has been hankering to get back to using wood for years, so we’re delighted to be able to finally launch this, our first in a collection of wooden wonders and an item many years in the making. It’s a hand-turned walnut bowl with a brass pedestal with an accompanying brass and walnut hammer – we collect nutcrackers at home and wanted to make one that favours accuracy over force. The hammer is perfectly weighted so it’s possible to delicately crack the nutshells rather than crush them to smithereens. It comes in a beautiful box, as all our wares do, with an accompanying flip book beautifully illustrated by John Broadley – an instruction manual of sorts! We’ve only made an edition of 50 pieces of these, never to be repeated in exactly the same way again, and over half of those have already been sold to pre-orders, so we’re excited to see where the other pieces find homes.
W*: How do you see the pop-up influencing how customers connect with Feldspar’s products?
CB: It makes such a huge difference for our customers to be able to touch and feel our products. They are all made with uneven, ‘wobbly’ profiles, with dimples for thumbs and fingers to hold them – as we always say, hands aren’t perfectly cylindrical, and neither are our mugs. So to be able to hold things before you buy them [means] you can fully appreciate the whole design – not just the tactility of the shapes but also the fineness of the bone china, the variances of the hand-painted accents.
W*: What has your experience of playing shopkeeper been like so far, and do you envision Feldspar exploring more physical retail spaces in the future?
JB: It’s been a lot of fun. We’re normally holed up in rural and fairly remote workshops in Devon, so meeting and chatting with customers is invaluable and interesting. It’s lovely to be able to put faces to names that have ordered online before, to learn how people use our wares and which are their favourites. It’s been wonderful so far and we’ve already got plans for next Christmas too.
Feldspar at Corinthia is open daily from 12 - 8pm until 5 January 2025. Corinthia London, Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2BD
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