Tangerine
Retired2003-2017 · Color No. 325
Introducing Tangerine, made by The Fiesta Tableware Company from 2003 to 2017. It's a vibrant and juicy shade of orange, reminiscent of ripe tangerines bursting with flavor. Tangerine adds a bold and energetic touch to any tablescape. Mix and match Tangerine with colors like White and Sunflower for a cheerful and summery table setting, or pair it with Plum and Slate for a more sophisticated and autumnal combination.
Production
Tangerine was retired in 2017, 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 Tangerine
Tangerine ran fourteen years, 2003 to 2017, and it's the orange most people picture when they think of modern Fiesta - bright, warm and unmistakable. It overlapped Persimmon for five years and is noticeably more vivid than it. When Tangerine retired in 2017, Poppy had already been in production since 2014 and took over the orange slot; the two are close but Poppy is redder and more saturated. Because of the long run, Tangerine is easy to find second-hand, which makes it one of the better retired colors to fill a table out with.
Using Tangerine on a table
Tangerine carries enough color to lead a table on its own. Use it for the plates and let quieter pieces do the rest; two or three settings of it go a long way. Its mid lightness (L* 65) means most food reads against it without either washing out or vanishing. It nearly disappears against a white cloth (2.7:1), 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.
The pairing in its own description
Named in the descriptionThese colors are named alongside Tangerine in this guide's description of it.
Buy these to go with it
Tangerine was retired in 2017, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
Opposite on the wheel
Peacock sits roughly opposite Tangerine in hue, which is the highest-contrast pairing the palette offers. The neutrals keep it from shouting.
Three-way split
Jade and Lilac sit about a third of the way around the color wheel from Tangerine in each direction. Evenly spaced hues stay lively without any one taking over.
Next-door hues
These sit within about 55° of Tangerine on the color wheel. Neighboring hues blend instead of competing, which suits a table you want to feel warm rather than sharp.
Where Tangerine sits in the line
Tangerine arrived while Persimmon was still in production, and is noticeably more vivid than it - a close relative rather than a reformulation (ΔE 9.2). It has been in production 14 years against a median of 7 for its era - one of the colors the company kept. What else happened at the company in 2003 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Tangerine. 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 Tangerine
29 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: