I don’t know if it’s a rebellion against the pared back beiges ushered in by the “quiet luxury” movement, but color finally seems to be clapping back. We’re seeing it not only in fashion, but across interiors as well. One example that has particularly captured my imagination lately is Delft tile. Until recently, I knew very little about the allegorical, sometimes playful, hand-painted ceramics. Only that it made me feel cozy and like I wanted to cook something hearty.

As luck, and a bit of planning, would have it, I found myself in the Netherlands recently with the chance to visit the city of Delft. Naturally, I wanted to learn more about the tradition firsthand. The Royal Delft Company, in business since the 1600’s, offered a tour of their functioning factory/atelier, which included a small museum of antique pieces and new interpretations of the artform. Through the tour I learned that Delftware was not fully born in the Netherlands. Largely inspired by the 16th and 17th century imported Asian ceramics into Europe, the Dutch became fixated on creating something as beautiful and more cost efficient on their own. This didn’t happen overnight, but through painstaking trial and error, Dutch artisans eventually developed their own technique for achieving the rich cobalt hue that became synonymous with Delftware. And spoiler, the pigment is actually black before firing, but through a specific firing process, changes color.

There are many other colors used in Delftware and the uses go far beyond tile. But blue has remained the most iconic and widely loved. Here are a few versions in blue I am thinking about non stop.