Delft blue in tropical spheres

Island hopping and Delft blue shopping

The sun-drenched islands of Curaçao and Bonaire are home to two magnificent Heinen Delft Blue stores. On these Caribbean islands you will find yourself among swaying palm trees, white sandy beaches and colorful houses. This is also where you will come across a tropical Delft Blue collection that is not available anywhere else in the world. The collection from our stores in the Caribbean is specially designed for these destinations and playfully manages to combine traditional Delftware with exuberant, tropical decorations and colors. These unique items are also not available in our stores in the Netherlands or in our online webshop. So this sunny collection remains a unique memento of your stay on the tropical islands.

The journey of Delftware pottery

How does such an ancient Dutch product end up all the way in the Caribbean, you may wonder. After all, Delftware has been a true world traveler for centuries. More than four hundred years ago, the original blue-on-white porcelain first found its way from the imperial porcelain cities of China, across raging seas, all the way to the Netherlands. During the months-long journey from Asia to the Netherlands, the trading ships occasionally made stops here and there, such as on the island of Mauritius where Delftware made the acquaintance of the dodo, and some shiploads of porcelain ended up at the bottom of the ocean or washed up in pieces elsewhere. All in all, dangerous journeys for that fragile blue and white pottery, so clever Delft merchants decided to set up just a few pottery factories of their own.

From the Dutch trading town on the waterfront, the popular Delftware pottery could easily be shipped to the rest of the country, and the world. Dutch immigrants took their valuable Delftware possessions with them to their new homelands, and slowly but steadily the pottery became loved and known everywhere. Today, our Delftware travels by land, sea and air to every corner of the globe. It spreads like a Delft blue stain across the globe.

Tropical and colorful Delft blue

Heinen Delftware's Caribbean collection blends the recognizable elements of traditional Delftware pottery, with the local nature and culture of the islands. For example, while we have a row of Delft blue canal houses in stores in the Netherlands, the stores on Curaçao and Bonaire feature houses with decorative facades in the most exuberant colors. And while the Netherlands is known for its many hordes of bicycles racing through town, here it is mostly groups of flamingos that seek out the beaches. The bicycles on Sylvain Tegroeg's bicycle vases have therefore been replaced for exotic flamingos in the Caribbean collection! Geckos adorn the Delft blue Christmas baubles, cute shells dangle from the jewelry, and the bowls and dishes in the shape of bulbous fish you have never seen before in the Netherlands. So if you are going island hopping here soon, use your chance to shop our unique, tropical collection. You can find our stores here: Rif Fort 409, Willemstad on Curaçao and Kaya Grandi 30 - Unit 3 Kralendijk on Bonaire. Bonbini!