I’ve always had a thing for dusty blue-green shades and today I learned a beautiful word for one of those colours: celadon. While at the Potter’s Market this morning, John the Potter commented on my boots, saying he’d never seen a pair of “celadon Dr Martens”. Seeing my blank expression he explained the origin of the word to me – back in the day the ceramics world was obsessed and overrun with blue and white porcelain but the French decided to start using a different colour from China, a light greeny turquoise. Apparently it matched the signature shade of a French ballet dancer whose name was Celadon and so the name stuck.
Reading the history on Wiki, it appears John used some artistic license in his tale – naturally the story is a little more complicated and there appear to be multiple theories on the origin of name, all of which I like, but I especially love the romanticism and whimsy of that French dancer story.
– – –
Potter’s Market | John the Potter | Docs from That Shoe Lady
