Hot news expected from Buckingham Palace? – simply a retirement announcement – no problem.  Sit down and have a cuppa.

Can you date the design of this British made teapot?

Perhaps surprisingly, it is over 130 years old – from the Victorian era.

Christopher Dresser designed it in 1879.  It was a prototype and was purchased by the London design museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 2006.

Here is his design for a toast rack – so startling and yet functional that, 100 years after his death, Alessi made it and it is still available on their online website: £135.

Good design keeps going.  And, of course, the tradition of tea and toast sails on, regardless.