Care guide

Stoneware

Our stoneware is fired to 1,260°C and fully vitrified, which means the clay body itself is non-porous. It will not craze, absorb odours or stain from tomato or turmeric.

• Dishwasher — yes, any cycle.
• Microwave — yes.
• Oven — yes, up to 220°C.
• Freezer — yes, but let a piece come to room temperature before it goes into a hot oven.

The one thing that will crack stoneware is thermal shock: fridge straight to hot oven, or boiling water into a cold piece. Nothing else in normal use will hurt it.

The foot ring is left unglazed so the piece can be fired standing up. Raw clay can mark a soft or lacquered surface, so a felt pad or a mat is worth using on a good table.

Grey metallic marks from cutlery are not scratches in the glaze — they are metal left on the surface. A little bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth takes them straight off.

Linen

• Machine wash at 30°C on a gentle cycle.
• Mild detergent. No bleach and no fabric softener.
• Tumble dry low, or line dry.
• Iron on the linen setting while slightly damp, if you want it crisp. It is equally correct not to.

Softener is the one real mistake: it coats the flax fibre and stops it absorbing, which is the entire reason to own a linen napkin. Our linen softens for about ten washes and then stays where it lands.

Walnut

• Hand wash only. Never the dishwasher, never leave it to soak.
• Wipe with a damp cloth and mild soap, then dry standing on its edge so both faces dry evenly.
• Re-oil when the surface starts to look dry and pale — roughly twice a year in normal use.

Use any food-safe hardwax oil or plain fractionated coconut oil. Avoid olive and other kitchen oils, which go rancid in the grain. Rub it in along the grain, leave it an hour, wipe off what has not soaked in.

Unglazed surfaces

The outside of the Argile vase is raw stoneware. Wipe it with a dry cloth. Scrubbing it wet will drive marks into the surface rather than lift them, and the piece is meant to take on a patina.