With olive ceramic pots, mineral glazes and a fondness for meals that take their time, the Malaysian brand’s Farmhouse Collection finds romance in the everyday rituals of feeding people.
Provence is one of those regions so ingrained in romantic, slow living fantasy that one hardly needs to visit it to recognise. Picture this: sun-warmed stone, woody herbs by the kitchen door, linen softened by years of washing and a pot that appears to have spent all afternoon tending to itself. Aix-en-Provence provides the scenery for Color King’s new Farmhouse Collection, a way to bring some of its domestic romance home to us.
After all, this is cookware for the Malaysian kitchen. However persuasive the pastoral setting at its preview luncheon might have been, the collection would eventually have to leave the flowers, acoustic music and beautifully arranged table behind. It would have to meet the realities of soup bubbling over, coffee before consciousness and dinner being carried from stove to table with everyone already waiting.
The Farmhouse Collection
The cookware arrives in Off White and Olive Green, both finished with contrasting earthen details that give the pots their Provençal farmhouse character. Their bodies swell gently towards the base before narrowing at the neck, a silhouette that feels familiar without being placeable. The olive carries the depth of herbs crushed beneath a knife, while the off-white has the warmer cast of cream.
The cooking range comprises three sizing options: a 2.8-litre stock pot and hot pots holding two litres and one litre. These are accompanied by Sandstone tableware spanning rice and soup bowls, a coupe bowl, dinner, salad and dessert plates, and a compact Lungo mug. Subtly detailed rims keep the neutral tableware from disappearing into the background, though it is the reactive glaze that gives the collection much of its character. Tonal and textural variations occur naturally from one piece to another, turning the slight irregularities of the firing process into part of the appeal.
Romance Meets the Stove
Color King describes itself as the region’s first coat-free cookware brand that prides itself on ceramic vessels made from natural mineral materials. The absence of applied non-stick coatings speaks to health-conscious cooks without making the kitchen look like a laboratory.
Its signature high-density ceramic construction holds heat especially well, suiting the collection to soups, stews, braises and the sort of cooking that benefits from patience. The pots work on gas and ceramic stovetops, although induction kitchens will need to look elsewhere.
Detachable heat-resistant silicone grips make the side handles safer to manage, while the pots can move through the oven, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator and freezer. Metallic-plated designs are the exception in the microwave, and ceramic still requires sensible treatment: allow a hot vessel to cool before exposing it to refrigerator or freezer temperatures.
The collection is also made for everyday use. It does not demand the nervous stewardship of an object bought primarily for display, which may come as a relief to anyone who has spent considerably more than intended on cookware that does considerably less.
Aix-en-Malaysia
Color King channels Provence in the Malaysian kitchen, and sends it right back out into the world, an Aix-en-Malaysia of sorts, tasting just as good on a Tuesday night in Petaling Jaya as it might in the South of France. The collection sits on shelves across Greater China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the United States, though its stint at Erewhon in Los Angeles carries a certain shine, an upscale grocer better known for cult smoothies and the kind of celebrity foot traffic that makes headlines of its own.
Closer to home, the route from imagined countryside to kitchen counter is more straightforward. Farmhouse is available through Color King’s official website, its flagship stores in SS2, Petaling Jaya and Molek, Johor Bahru, as well as Seibu at The Exchange TRX, Isetan at The Gardens Mall, Parkson, AEON, SOGO and HomePro.
There’s more coming behind it too. Color King Home, Color King Curate and Livonde are all on the way, carrying the brand out of the kitchen and into the rest of the house, with a Color King Gallery planned for Pavilion Bukit Jalil by the end of the year to bring it all under one roof.
Oh the Pleasures of Staying In
The countryside imagery is, of course, a little dishonest. Real kitchens have fewer linen tablecloths and a lot more washing up. But the fantasy survives even if the scenery doesn’t, because what’s actually left once the acoustic guitar packs up and the luncheon ends is a Farmhouse pot with dinner in it, a Sandstone bowl passed hand to hand across the table, a small mug waiting by the kettle the next morning before anyone’s awake. No cottage, no lavender field, no plane ticket halfway around the world required. Color King understands that the romance was always going to be in the kitchen, waiting on someone to put the soup on.
Images courtesy of Color King.
From the table to the world beyond, Nacre brings you dining, travel, and lifestyle experiences worth savouring. Explore more with us on Instagram (@nacre.asia).
Leave a Reply