Yellow
Retired1987-2002 · Color No. 106
Introducing Yellow, made by The Fiesta Tableware Company from 1987 to 2002. It's a sunny and cheerful hue that brightens up any tablescape with its warmth and vibrancy. Yellow evokes feelings of happiness and positivity, making it perfect for both casual gatherings and special occasions. Mix and match Yellow with colors like Cobalt and Shamrock for a vibrant and energetic table setting, or pair it with Scarlet and Paprika for a bold and fiery combination.
Production
Yellow was retired in 2002, 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 Yellow
Post 86 Yellow ran fifteen years from 1987 to 2002, and it's a much lighter, softer yellow than the vintage color that shares its name - closer to butter than to mustard. It was one of the three colors introduced in 1987 as Fiesta built its palette back out after the relaunch. When it retired in 2002, Sunflower had already arrived to take over yellow duty, and the two are close enough (ΔE 4) that they mix without any awkwardness at all. That makes this one of the easier retired colors to work into a modern table.
Using Yellow on a table
Yellow 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. At L* 86 it is one of the paler glazes in the line: dark food reads sharply against it, pale food much less so. It nearly disappears against a white cloth (1.4:1), 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.
The pairing in its own description
Named in the descriptionThese colors are named alongside Yellow in this guide's description of it.
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Your color Yellow, 1987-2002
- Yellow, 1936-1969
- Scarlet
- Shamrock
- Cobalt
Buy these to go with it
Yellow was retired in 2002, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
Opposite on the wheel
Sapphire sits roughly opposite Yellow in hue, which is the highest-contrast pairing the palette offers. The neutrals keep it from shouting.
Three-way split
Evergreen and Mulberry sit about a third of the way around the color wheel from Yellow in each direction. Evenly spaced hues stay lively without any one taking over.
Next-door hues
These sit within about 55° of Yellow on the color wheel. Neighboring hues blend instead of competing, which suits a table you want to feel warm rather than sharp.
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Your color Yellow, 1987-2002
- Flamingo
- Forest Green
- Chocolate
Where Yellow sits in the line
Yellow took over from Antique Gold as Fiesta's yellow, and is noticeably more muted than it - a close relative rather than a reformulation (ΔE 9.7). It has been in production 15 years against a median of 7 for its era - one of the colors the company kept. In 1987 it arrived alongside Cobalt and Rose, 1987-2005. What else happened in 1987 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Yellow. 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 Yellow
19 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: