NEWELL, W.Va. – In her Morgantown kitchen, LeeAnn Wiles is surrounded by color. Plates, bowls and pitchers in bright shades of blue, yellow and pink fill her shelves. But these aren’t just any dishes. They’re Fiesta Tableware, made in her home state of West Virginia.
Collecting Fiestaware has become a family tradition for Wiles, and her love for the brand goes back decades.
“Growing up in West Virginia, I remember my step-grandfather having some,” she said. “They were these pretty pastel colors, and as a little girl, seeing pink dishes was really exciting.”
The Fiesta Tableware Company produces about 3.1 million pieces every year, all made in Newell in the state’s northern panhandle. Beyond their signature colors, the durability and quality of the pieces keep customers like Wiles coming back.
“We’ve had stories of people dropping their ware on a granite countertop, and it chips their granite countertop, not the plate itself,” Matt Wicks, Fiestaware chief operating officer, said.
An employee creates Fiestaware bowls in the Newell factory. Credit: Sam Smith/WVU Reed School of Media
For Wiles, quality is only part of the appeal. The variety of colors makes collecting Fiesta both personal and fun.
“I also love any kind of linens, so I try to match it with my linens and stuff like that,” she said. “Having that variety of colors makes it fun.”
Fiesta’s story began in Newell in 1936, with the factory sitting right on the Ohio River clay deposits, and Wicks said the company’s roots in the area run deep.
“We approached the Newell family, who owned a farm where we currently reside, and we bought the farm from them,” Wicks said. “We created the entire town around it, including all the infrastructure as well.”
While not every Fiesta piece is entirely handmade, several, like the brand’s iconic pitcher, require careful hand-finishing.
“On an average day, we’re producing roughly about [60,000] pieces through our plant,” Wicks said. “We’re on track right now to do about 3.1 million first-quality Fiesta pieces this year.”
Each piece that leaves the Newell factory undergoes a detailed quality control process to ensure it meets the company’s high standards.
For collectors like Wiles, those standards and the sense of West Virginia pride behind each dish make Fiestaware more than just dinnerware. They make it a piece of home.
This article was adapted from a television news story using AI. All reporting, facts and quotes from sources are original. AI was only used to assist with formatting and style for a digital platform.