Slate
Retired2015-2022 · Color No. 339
Introducing Slate, made by The Fiesta Tableware Company from 2015 to 2022. It's a sleek and sophisticated shade of black, reminiscent of smooth slate stone. Slate adds a touch of modernity and elegance to any tablescape. Mix and match Slate with colors like Ivory and Lemongrass for a contemporary and chic table setting, or pair it with Plum and Poppy for a dramatic and striking combination.
Production
Slate was retired in 2022, 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 Slate
Slate ran seven years, 2015 to 2022, arriving alongside Sage in one of the few double-introduction years. It's a soft charcoal rather than a true black - noticeably lighter than the Black it succeeded, and warmer in feel than either Black or Foundry. That makes it the most usable of Fiesta's dark colors for a full setting: dramatic without being severe. It retired in 2022 when Peony arrived. If you want the same effect from current production, Foundry is the only option, and it's considerably darker.
Using Slate on a table
Slate 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* 19 it is a genuinely dark plate, so pale food stands out on it and dark food disappears. It separates strongly from a white cloth (13.4:1) 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 Slate in this guide's description of it.
- Ivory
- Lemongrass
- Poppy
- Plum
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Your color Slate
Buy these to go with it
Slate was retired in 2022, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
A ground for bright colors
Slate 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
Slate is close to neutral, so it works as the quiet ground under a louder color.
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 Slate sits in the line
Slate took over from Black as Fiesta's black, and is noticeably lighter than it - a clearly different glaze rather than a reformulation (ΔE 12.1). In 2015 it arrived alongside Sage and took the place of Plum on the shelf. What else happened in 2015 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Slate. 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 Slate
22 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: