Black
Retired1986-2014 · Color No. 101
Introducing Black, made by The Fiesta Tableware Company from 1986 to 2014. It's a sleek and sophisticated hue that adds a touch of modernity to any tablescape. Pair it with White and Slate for a contemporary monochrome look or mix it with Poppy and Sunflower for a striking contrast.
Production
Black was retired in 2014, so it is a hunt for secondhand pieces now. Fiesta Factory Direct is where the colors still being made are, if you are filling a set.
Shop Fiesta Factory Direct (opens in a new tab)Notes on Black
Black launched with the 1986 relaunch alongside White and Apricot, and ran twenty-eight years before retiring in 2014. It's the darkest glaze Fiesta has ever made - a true black, not a charcoal - and it's the most dramatic surface in the line. Pale food reads sharply on it; anything dark disappears completely. It works better as a charger under a bright color than as a whole setting, where it can feel a bit severe. Foundry, which arrived in 2016 with a cast-iron texture, is the closest thing Fiesta makes now, though the company doesn't count Foundry as an official Fiesta color.
Using Black on a table
Black carries almost no color of its own, so it is the layer everything else sits on. Build the table out of it and add one loud piece. At L* 0 it is a genuinely dark plate, so pale food stands out on it and dark food disappears. It separates strongly from a white cloth (21.0:1) and less so from dark wood.
Below, 5 combinations built only from colors Fiesta has actually produced. Each says which rule it follows, and which pieces you can still buy today.
The pairing in its own description
Named in the descriptionThese colors are named alongside Black in this guide's description of it.
Buy these to go with it
Black was retired in 2014, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
A ground for bright colors
Black carries almost no hue of its own, which makes it the ground the rest of the table sits on. These are the boldest colors in the palette, spread right around the wheel - the mix-and-match look Fiesta was designed for.
Anchored in neutrals
Black is close to neutral, so it works as the quiet ground under a louder color.
- White
- Scarlet
- Turf Green
-
Your color Black
Nothing but neutrals
Every color here is a white, gray or black, stepped from lightest to darkest. No hue anywhere, so the shapes and the food do the work.
Where Black sits in the line
Black was the first black Fiesta made; 2 more have followed it. It has been in production 28 years against a median of 7 for its era - one of the colors the company kept. It was the darkest glaze Fiesta has made. In 1986 it arrived alongside Apricot and White. What else happened in 1986 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Black. Under about ΔE 5 two colors are hard to tell apart side by side - useful when you are identifying an unmarked piece.
On the table alongside Black
32 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: