Our spring windows are in. A collection of wonderful mid-century Cannes pattern plates designed in 1954 by the celebrated architect and designer Sir Hugh Casson for Midwinter potteries. Each piece is signed on the underside, and we’re selling them singularly.

Sir Hugh Casson’s sketches and watercolours of France – Parisian style cafes, fishing boats and harbours – were applied to Midwinter’s “Stylecraft” and “Fashion” plates, coffee and tea sets, cruets and tureens. The illustrations are joyous and Casson’s lyrical line is both charming and uplifting.

The poet John Betjeman said that Casson sketched just as most people hummed when going about their daily lives. And that’s just it: this charming plate scene is happiness personified, reminding us of Mediterranean holidays, sun, sand and sea – and may be a gorgeous seafood lunch we once had by a harbour bobbing with boats. A most happy hum indeed.