Pleasure Garden

Take a sip of history and slip into a pleasure garden of your own. Inspired by House of Baby’s new studio in Elizabeth Industrial Estate and origins as the home of the Mazawattee Tea Company.

Works inspired by one of the last remaining adverts of the Mazawattee Tea company at Sydenham tube station in South East London.

The Mazawattee Tea Company was founded in London, England, in 1886 and holds a rich history in the world of tea. As a merchant of Indian teas, it quickly gained popularity, becoming one of the leading tea brands of its time. By the early 20th century, Mazawattee Tea was renowned for its premium quality and distinct blends and became a household name, its iconic advertisements became part of British culture. However, as the British Empire declined the company faced challenges in the latter half of the century.

The name Mazawattee is thought to be based on the Hindi ‘maza’, meaning ‘pleasure or fun’ and the Sinhalese ‘wattee’, meaning ‘a garden’.

Taking over from John Horniman’s introduction of packaged Tea in the 1840’s the Mazawattee Tea blend of Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) leaves was introduced and marketed as superior to the quality of standard Chinese leaves.

Mazawattee quickly became market leaders and the largest tea brand in the world, taking the title from Horniman. 

1901 saw the establishment of a new £400,000 factory in New Cross. The largest and best equipped tea processing plant in the world. The new factory allowed the company to move into the manufacturing of chocolate and cocoa confectionary. Unfortunately much of this factory was destroyed during air raids of World War II and only a part still remains. The part that house of baby now calls home.