Week 51 colours from Huntley & Palmers
Khaki, Tan, Sky Blue & Pale Gold, the Biscuit Capital of the World.
‘Accidentally consumed five biscuits when I wasn't paying attention. Those biscuits are wily fellows - they leap in like sugary ninjas’ - Charles Dickens
Just over a week to go before Christmas and I’m continuing December’s theme of ‘Treats’. Where we live in Berkshire, England our closest town is Reading. It’s named after the original settlers, an 8th century Anglo-Saxon tribe, and it’s a town that owes a large part of it’s development to the largest biscuit maker in the world.
Huntley and Palmers were founded in 1822 and were synonymous with Reading until the closure of their factory in the 1970s. The company left their stamp on the heritage of Reading and also made enormous cultural contributions in the 19th and 20th centuries with their beautifully illustrated print adverts and their elaborately designed biscuit tins.
The company started as a small bakery and biscuit shop, situated on London Road close to the passing stagecoach route between London to the east and Bath and Bristol to the west. Like many of England’s food companies of the time, it’s founder, Joseph Huntley was a Quaker and he ran the business together with his son. They were later joined by a distant cousin, George Palmer who let their ambitious expansion.
In 1846 they moved operations to a larger factory on King’s Road and by the early 1900s their biscuits were exported to all four corners of the British Empire. There were both a symbol of Victorian prosperity and a staple supply of the British Army, found in India and Australia, South Africa during the Boer War and even in Antartica where a tin was left behind by the Shackleton expedition.
By 1900, Huntley and Palmers was a household name and the largest manufacturer of biscuits globally, employing almost 5,000 people and earning Reading the nickname of the Biscuit Capital of the World.
The key to the company’s success was the introduction of their decorative biscuit tins. Before plastic packaging, these tins preserved the freshness of the biscuits and after the invention of offset lithography were turned into bright and colourful designs and advertising space that turned each tin into a collectors item.
I’m featuring one of them today, take a look at their progression on the V&A website here where a collection of almost 300 tins charts changing fashions from the Victorian age onwards. Many artists worked with them over decades to create these innovative designs. One freelance artist called Mick Hill did a few artworks for biscuit tins in the 1970’s, three of these turned out to be a bit risqué, you can see him talking about it here
There’s a permanent display at the Reading Museum here and you can take a look at the company’s website here.
“Orient”, Offset litho printed and embossed tin, For Huntley & Palmers, 1899 (Image source)
Colour Combination
The colours for this weeks prompt are Khaki, Tan, Sky Blue & Pale Gold. Use the #coloricombo colours along with any neutral light and dark colour to create an artwork in any medium and style.
December’s theme is “Treats”. You can use this as topic and create in any way as you wish, using the week’s colours in any medium and style.
I love to see what you do with the coloricombo colours. If you'd like to share your work, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod on social media. You're also welcome to post in the private Facebook group Creative Prompts.
Christmas Gifts
Just in time for Christmas, there’s now an option to “Send as a Gift” when you purchases any of the mini courses listed below.
This let’s you specify who you want to gift the course to, add a personal message and even choose the day that they receive the gift, perfect for a last minute Christmas present.
Creative Circle has a festive twist, Paper Vases is brand new and all seven make great gifts, available at a 25% discount until the end of December. All courses have one year’s access from registration. Use code XMAS25 at checkout.
Choose from:
Paper Vases
Let’s Paint Cats
Creative Circle
Fabulous Fish
Four Seasons
Sunset Trees
Imaginary Butterflies
Paid Coloricombo subscribers get an enormous 40% discount, please see Week 50’s post for your exclusive code.