This week I was delighted to receive a small package from Ancient Industries, an online shop and blog that I recently discovered via Persephone Books. Ancient Industries offers high-quality traditional household goods and clothing from Europe, America and the British Isles. A New York Times profile of the company can be found here.

So what did I purchase? A bottle brush, made by the Redecker family in Germany, a dish washing brush, made by the visually impaired in Sweden, and a little Riess enamelware pot.

Of the above, I'm most charmed by the Riess enamelware, which is utterly gorgeous and much nicer/heavier than most enamelware (indeed, it's almost too nice to use!). I found this from Cooking Company:

The Riess family of Ybbsitz, Austria has been manufacturing enamelware for over 200 years. Unlike many other lesser brands, the main body of all Riess enamelware products are produced from a single sheet of steel. No joins exist in the main body of the pots. Every item is given a black undercoat and then kiln fired. Each pot is then given a second coat of white, then the interior cream colour is applied. The pot is then ready for its outer colour coating. Every coating is followed by the kiln, which means that all pots in this range are fired 4 times.

At the time of my order, much of their Riess enamelware was out of stock, but fortunately it is now back in the shop.