Spaces Holiday 2009

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Abor-rtPlaid i ng tr t gtlt-centur1collect Tartanzuure,

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Bv PlrnrcraSgacxgtrono Ta r t a n w a r e i s a f o r m o f M a u c h l i n e

I have three sons, but beforethey revealed I I t hemselves to b e s uc h, m y hus bandand

ware,sycamoreboxesand ho-useholditems

I went through the motions of picking out

that originated from a town in the county

girl names. My mother's maiden name was

of East Ayrshire, Scotland, of the same

Menzies,and during each pregnancyI put

nam e . M a u c h l i n e h a d l o n g b e e n k n o w n

it in the girl colu m n of t he nam e lis t . And

for its quarries and for its box making.

each time my husbandlookedat it with furrowed brow and said, "Terrible.No one will

Mauchline'swater of Ayr stoneswere excel-

understandwhat it is. She'llhaveto spell it

and Andrew Smith were stonemasons in

ten times a day her whole life." He appar-

the late l8th century who packagedtheir

ently couldn't hear the bagpipes,couldn't

product in plaid boxes.

envisiona bonnie babe swaddledin tartan.

lent f o r s h a r p e n i n g s t e e l b l a d e s . Wi l l i a m

It was a fortuitouspackagingadvantage,

But, like me, for centuriesfolks have been

indeed marketing genius. Several factors

mad for plaid and all the Scotch heritage

converged to catapult the Smiths' plaid

monarchhad visitedthe country.lt's on the

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packaginginto collectinghall of fame.First,

same island,for heaven'ssake.

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KingGeorgelV of EnglandvisitedEdinburgh

Scotsman Sir Walter Scott, who had

Opposite: Webster House in the Crossroods

in 1822.So what? Big deal? Well, it was to

capturedthe King'sattention with his novel

hos on ostonishinglgdiversecollection o/

the Scotch.Ceorge'svisit marked the first

Wa v e r l q ,p l a n n e d s o m e th i n g o f a C o l i n

tartonware,including these sundrg items.

time in nearlytwo centuriesthat a reigning

Cowlie extravaganzato capture the King's

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f a n cy T art an, which ha d be en out lar v ec l,

ing t o lr av ea lit t l e n r o r er n o n e yf o r s t u f f A n d

w a s once again a llowe cl,a ncl Sc ot t us ec lit

t r av el Anc l wha t s t h e p o i n t o [ t r a v e l i f ) r o u

a s his S ct rI tishflin g the me. Clar rc hief t ar r s

c an t br ing bac ka l i t t l e s o u v e n i r ?

a n t l ot lrer genlle nre ttlverea c lor t r ecinl k ilt s

St ill wit h m e ? O k , b a c k t o t h e S r n i t h s

f o r t he K ing 's ce leb ratio n,an c l Sc ot t c ot r -

Renr enr ber ?l'l r e m a s o n s , Wi l l i a n r a n d

v i n ceclC eor getha t a s a de scendentof t he

lltelr \tnrre\ Ar r dr euSr nit lr ,w e r e l ) , r c k 4 g i n g

St u art line, h e to o, sh ou ld b e c lac lin lt laid

in plaid box es We l l , t h e b o x e s t h e t r s e l v e s

Th e K ing o utfitte cl h irnself in r ed Roy al

began t o c r ea t e a d e r n a n c l .T h e S t n i t h

St u .rrl tart an cr)stin gn rL)ret har r S200, 000

. h e y c o u l c ls e e t h e boy s wer e v is io n a r i e s T

l'art.rtr.rtr c liilt l s bec . r r le rrr l t rrl.r!: cl.rll.rts.

nr ar l< et t hat t he t a r t a n t r e n d l v a s c r e a t i n g .

rconic Scotttshr,vear.

The Snr it hs be g a n m a k i n g c o n r r n o r ri t e m s

A nd war e .Ceo rge lVs in t er es tc oult led w i t h a secon d royal e nd ors em ent .O ueen Vi c torias af finity fo r the co un t r y ,illus t r at ec l

ac lor nec rl v it h t h o s e g r i c i s s o m a t r y h a v e grorvnto love. Thes e c om m o n h o u s e h o l d i t e r n s -

by her clevotionto BalnroralCastle, nracle

box es , s ewing a c c e s s o r i e s ,c u p h o l d e r s ,

a l l things S c otchth e ra ge Thes ewer e t he

t hous anc lsof ite r n s ,i n f a c t - w e r e o r i g i n a l l y

V i c t orians,r e rrrerlb era nclthey wer e s t ar t -

paint ed by han d S k i l l e c {a r t i s a t t sc r e a t e d

An Aside The caterer for Sir Walter Scott's grand ball for King George lV was Ebenezer Scroggie, whom some believe to be the inspiration for CharlesDickens'characterEbenezer Scroogein his tale A ChrisfmosCorol. The story goes that Dickens saw Scroggie'stombstone on a tour of Scotlandand misreadthe engraving, "a meal man" referring to Scroggie's profession as corn dealer. Dickens reportedly thought the marker read "a mean man," and a characterwas born. Scroggiewas far from mean, rather he was generous,boisterous and lascivious.

the tartan plaid on each piece. It was an intricate and expensive process. Andrew Smith's adaptation of the pantograph, a machine that could duplicate the plaid patterns of tartan, facilitatedthe explosion of the industry.Now the patternscould be printed on paper and applied to the wood pieces.The thimble holders, napkin rings, letter openers, egg cups and more were painted black to hide the seams;then the paperwas carefullyappliedwith one of dozonc n f n 2 t t e r n s

Justlike OueenVictoria,manyEnglish citizenswere taking the new railroadto Whatbetterto remind Scotland to vacation. youof yourtrip thantartanware? TheSmiths did not limit their souvenirsto Scotland, however.The factory exported souvenirs designedfor the UnitedStates,Australia wereproduced and muchof Europe.Pieces schools,hotels churches, to commemorate homesand monuments. Which givesa collectora lot to cons ide r. L i te rallyt hous andso f i te m s to choo sefro m .T ar t ansr angin gfro m Pri n c e C ha rl e sto Caledoniat o S t u a rt.M c B e th ,

ry McPh er s onand M c F a rl a n da n d , y e s , Menziesare availableas well.Whereis a lassor laddieto begin? Fellowbloggerand San Franciscointerior designerScotMeachamWoodremem"l can of hiscollection. bersthegermination still rememberthe wonderfultartanware sewing implementsthat my grandmother hadwhenI wasgrowingup.Iwasalwaysfascinatedby the intricatepatterns,"he says. "lt kind of left my life until yearslaterwhen I wasworkingfor RalphLauren,and we had andusedtarHomeCollection a "Highland" tanwareto stylethe showrooms.I guessit was loveat 'secondsight.'I startedworking

almostimmediately." on myowncollection lust like any gentleman,Wood remembershis first fondly."Mypersgnalcollection startedwith a letteropenerthat I-foundat HenryGregoryin London.It still sitson my desk.t think someof my favoritepiecesare a McDufftartan cribbageboardand a collection of the worksof RobertBurns (see sidebaron page 75) with a RoyalStewart binding." Whilea collectorcouldlimit his or her collectionto one tartan pattern,I find it enchanting,as Wood does,to see several differentplaids together.Most piecesare relativelysmall, so a tabletop arranged strikingyear with a collectionis particularly aroundor lustduringthe holidays. As we'velearnedon thesepagesbefore, demandfor eventhe mostcharmingpieces beginsto wane.The rise in the eventually popularityof postcardsbeganto take its

wareindustry.A fire toll on the Mauchline at the factory in 1937destroyedthe pantographmachines,and the facilitywould neverreopen.But whetheryou are mad for plaid yeararoundor just when Christmas bellsare ringing,BlackWatchor Menzies couldadda jauntyair to tableor shelf. a That'sM-E-N-Z-l-E-9.