"Soft, warm and inviting."

It's Your Turn, Heather

The Homer Laughlin China Company announced with fanfare their new Fiesta color for 2006: heather.

Often known as HLC, the West Virginia manufacturer saw fit to pick this fancy name for purple after months of careful study and evaluation. In their press release, the company quotes Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute as saying, "soft purple colors are perfect for the tabletop because you can easily mix and match them with other colors. The soft heathered purples work extremely well with so many other shades such as muted greens, mineral blues and the re-emerging smoky grays, making for a calming new interplay of color on the tabletop,"

One of the first acts Fiesta collectors perform upon hearing the news of a new color is to conduct matchplay with it and other existing colors. A soft purple makes for a nice alternative to plum. Homer Laughlin officially suggests as mixables Sunflower, Persimmon, Shamrock and Turquoise.

2005's new color was peacock blue, which some disaffected collectors referred to as Windex blue. Despite that, the color has proven popular with consumers, selling extremely well.

There should be plenty of opportunity to create exciting combiniations with Heather Fiesta pieces.