I grew up eating my oatmeal from Quimper bowls, and my spinach from Quimper plates -- for my mother taught French and adored France, especially Normandie et Bretagne.
Many years later, in 1980, I visited the HB Henriot factory in Quimper, to see the women painting the dishes, and to buy some new plates and bowls that had not been chipped by little boys. As I took too long in making my selection, my 3-year-old daughter became restive, swirled around in a little dance, lost her balance, and crashed against a stack of costly dishes, damaging many. The factory representative was most kind and generous, saying that I could have all the damaged dishes at half price. So now I eat off Quimper bearing the marks and memories not only of my childhood, but more preciously, that of my daughter.
Check out the prices of old Quimper dishes on eBay. They rival those of old HP calculators!
Greetings to Emmanuel and beautiful Normandie,
Tom