Rose
Retired1951-1959
Produced from 1951 to 1959, Fiesta's Rose is a shade of pink that is associated with love, romance, and femininity. It is a delicate and soft color that is often used in flowers, particularly roses, which is how the color got its name.
Production
Rose was retired in 1959, 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 Rose
Vintage Rose is a soft, dusty pink - much closer to salmon than to anything shocking - and it arrived in 1951 as part of the mid-century trio with Gray and Chartreuse. Eight years, retired 1959. It reads as unmistakably fifties, and that's most of its appeal now. The name was reused for a Post 86 color in 1987 that ran nearly twenty years, so listings need reading carefully: if it says Rose and the seller says vintage, the years are what settle it. Modern Peony is the closest thing currently in production, and it's close enough that the two mix on a table without looking like a mistake.
Using Rose on a table
Rose has enough color to be noticed without taking over, which makes it a good second or third piece - a salad plate or a serving bowl rather than the whole setting. Its mid lightness (L* 68) means most food reads against it without either washing out or vanishing. It nearly disappears against a white cloth (2.4:1), so it shows best on dark wood or a colored runner.
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.
Buy these to go with it
Rose was retired in 1959, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
- White
-
Your color Rose, 1951-1959
- Turquoise, 1988-present
- Lapis
- Foundry
Opposite on the wheel
Evergreen sits roughly opposite Rose in hue, which is the highest-contrast pairing the palette offers. The neutrals keep it from shouting.
All red
Every color here is from the red family, arranged light to dark. A single-family table reads calm and deliberate rather than busy.
Three-way split
Medium Green and Twilight sit about a third of the way around the color wheel from Rose in each direction. Evenly spaced hues stay lively without any one taking over.
- White
-
Your color Rose, 1951-1959
- Medium Green
- Twilight
Next-door hues
These sit within about 55° of Rose on the color wheel. Neighboring hues blend instead of competing, which suits a table you want to feel warm rather than sharp.
- Ivory
-
Your color Rose, 1951-1959
- Red, 1936-1943
- Chocolate
Where Rose sits in the line
Rose took over from Red, 1936-1943 as Fiesta's red, and is lighter and more muted than it - a complete change of direction rather than a reformulation (ΔE 25.7). In 1951 it arrived alongside Chartreuse, 1951-1959, Forest Green and Gray and took the place of Blue (Cobalt), Green (Light) and Old Ivory on the shelf. What else happened in 1951 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Rose. 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 Rose
10 colors were in production at the same time: