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Inspiration in the color pewter.

Learn the history and meaning of the color pewter, the perfectly neutral gray.

Design with pewter

What is the meaning of the color pewter?

Sometimes, the most unassuming colors have the darkest history. The color pewter was named after the metal of the same shade. Pewter was originally made of two parts tin and one part lead. Cast into cooking tools and utensils as far back as the Bronze Age, the presence of lead meant that pewter housewares slowly poisoned people through their food.

The color pewter is a perfectly neutral gray devoid of warm or cool hues, Its stoic neutrality commands seriousness.

The history of the color pewter.

Pewter color takes its name from the ancient alloy.

The alloy pewter was first cast as far back as the Bronze Age. Pewter was also called “black metal” because it darkened with age. The original make-up of pewter was around 70% tin and 30% lead. It was unknown that the lead leached out when acidic foods encountered a pewter surface. References in Ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Bible hallow pewter objects, and the color of pewter carried the same esteem that the alloy enjoyed.

Pewter entered English around the 14th century.

The term pewter entered English around 1300. The use of the color pewter was not common at that time. Pewter color eventually came to mean a totally neutral gray slightly darker than silver. Since the 1800s, the term pewter has steadily declined in use. Fewer items are made with the alloy, and so the color pewter has taken on the primary meaning of the word pewter in English today.

The make-up of pewter has changed, but the color pewter has not.

In the 1970s, lead was discovered to be poisonous in everything from pewter cutlery to lead-based paint. Since then, pewter has been made with a mix of tin, copper, and antimony. The color of pewter now varies depending on how much copper is used. The color pewter, however, sits forever in the annals of color dictionaries as the hex code #E9EAEC.

The color pewter across different cultures.

Pewter for the rich and royal.

In the Dark and Middle Ages, the production of pewter was hampered due to wars cutting down on tin production. What pewter was still cast was used in religious iconography or by the rich and royal. Pewter was associated with wealth, at times even more than silver. It was said that Edward I “Longshanks” (1272 — 1307) had dishes entirely of pewter with no silverware at all.

The Renaissance brought pewter color (and alloy) to the masses.

The cultural significance of pewter changed significantly in the Renaissance. Major advances in the standard of living meant that wood and clay homewares were replaced with pewter. Craft guilds were formed to control the quality of pewter. Later in the Americas, inventories from the late 1700s show pewter items in households of every economic level. The color pewter became a familiar symbol of utilitarian quality for everything from tableware to surface materials.

Italy innovated in pewter, and now it’s at the forefront of the pewter scene once again.

Some of the greatest advances in casting pewter were discovered in Italy during the Renaissance. Centuries later, Italy is seeing handcrafted pewter enjoy a resurgence. Pewter workshops have given the color pewter a meaning synonymous with craftsmanship. This association is made stronger with the elegant designs that these wares showcase.