Inside the home of the city’s most dedicated collector of vintage kitchenware
Featuring colour-coded shelves, one-of-a-kind patterns, and made-in-Canada standouts from Pyrex’s cookware and dining sets
Jacqueline Goring’s infatuation with vintage Pyrex kitchenware began in 2012, when she popped into a shop in her Danforth neighbourhood looking for Christmas gifts. She saw a pink casserole dish with white flowers emblazoned on it and fell in love with its whimsical design.
Goring started scouring thrift stores in the east end and Scarborough, scooping up Pyrex pieces whenever she saw them. “They were so plentiful,” she says. “They’re harder to find now because demand has gone up.” Eleven years and $7,000 later, she’s collected hundreds of pastel bowls, casserole dishes and loaf pans—enough to fill three large cabinets and a portion of her and her husband’s 450-square-foot basement. (Luckily, Goring says, her husband is very supportive of her hobby).
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A segment of Goring’s collection is dedicated to pastel-blue dinnerware—sometimes called Delphite—which was produced at the Leaside Pyrex factory in Toronto in the mid-1900s. She has researched the history of Pyrex in Canada and visited the Charleroi, Pennsylvania, factory where the glassware is produced. “It’s a rabbit hole,” she says. “But it brings me joy.”
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Related: Inside the apartment of the city's most dedicated Barbie collector
A segment of Goring’s collection is dedicated to pastel-blue dinnerware—sometimes called Delphite—which was produced at the Leaside Pyrex factory in Toronto in the mid-1900s. She has researched the history of Pyrex in Canada and visited the Charleroi, Pennsylvania, factory where the glassware is produced. “It’s a rabbit hole,” she says. “But it brings me joy.”
[caption id="attachment_645421" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Goring learned about the Leaside Pyrex factory early in her collecting. Finding historical documentation of its existence and collecting the items made there is a special interest of hers[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_645422" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Goring’s first-ever piece of Pyrex was a pink dish patterned with white daisies. “I’ve had it for years, and I still love looking at it”[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_645423" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Goring believes this prototype bowl, called Golden Trillium, was never mass-produced. She bought it on eBay in 2015 for $500[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_645424" align="alignnone" width="2000"] She once risked her life for Pyrex, driving to Brampton during a snowstorm to get her hands on this rare pink made-in-Canada flamingo casserole dish[/caption]
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