Corn Flower: Creatively Canadian

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Take a piece of glassware. Cut a stylized flower design into its plain
surfaces. Nice. Nice enough to merit doing it again. And again. In fact,
it was such a good idea that the same stylized flower design was cut
into glassware blanks for over 70 years. That design? “Corn Flower,”
a design created by Jack Hughes of Ontario’s Dufferin County and
Toronto, a craftsman-cum-businessman who recognized a winning pattern
and the benefits of consistency.

Corn Flower pattern glassware (stemware, candy dishes, bowls, plates,
cream-and-sugar sets—approximately 250 shapes) is part of our Canadian
heritage. The pattern, manufactured from 1914 to 1988, was sold coast to
coast as well as internationally. At its most popular, it was available
in nearly every small village in Ontario, and promoted by national
companies (such as Eaton’s) and Chatelaine. It rated highly as a
wedding or birthday gift and became an heirloom to be passed from mother
to daughter for several generations. Now the pieces are collectors’
items, sought out at antique shows, estate sales, and on the Internet.

Townsend, curator of a small Ontario museum that features Corn Flower,
has produced a comprehensive, detailed, and empathetic history of its
design, creator, manufacturing and marketing, and of the Hughes family.
The book is lavishly illustrated with photos of Jack Hughes and others
involved in the Corn Flower business, the cutting processes, and the
many glassware products on which the pattern was cut.

Human-interest anecdotes, personalities, and an obvious enthusiasm for
the pattern make the book an enjoyable as well as informative read. It
is certainly the definitive work on the subject and a must-have for
collectors of antique housewares and glassware, and for those interested
in either Toronto or Dufferin County social history.