Original Tartan Stoneware

It’s over forty one years since we introduced black and white Macfarlane tartan on stoneware. Without knowing I was the first to decorate tartan on ceramic tableware and I did so almost by accident. Lachie had designed a swimming pool and pavilion for Adam and Carolyn Barker Mill. He had painted a frieze and stoneware tiles to use in the pool and on the outside of the building. It was while waiting for the kiln to cool to check his sample tiles that I decorated a plate in black on a white glaze in a tartan pattern.

The plate was fired and the result was pleasing and so I was inspired to develop a collection of 14 designs some based on traditional tartan patterns and some new ones I invented. It was the start of our long career as designers and the collections remain unique to ANTA.

Having found my original design drawings we re-produced the original 14 designs again on salad bowls in our factory in Fearn. All 14 patterns together with the original drawings are displayed in our new shop in Rose street in Edinburgh.

Annie Stewart, Founder