Designer Desire: Robert Jefferson

Montage of Portrait of Robert Jefferson pottery designs

Graduating in 1954, Robert Jefferson attended the Royal College of Art in London and became a ceramics lecturer at Stoke-on-Trent College of Art.

In 1958, Jefferson joined pottery manufacturers Carter & Company as a designer rather than a ‘thrower’. He was instrumental in the creation of the more artistic ‘Studio’ side of things.

The following year, he created the Pebble range of dinner service. The pattern was machine stamped in both a black and grey colourway (both shown in the montage above).

Portrait of Robert Jefferson
credit

In 1961/62, he designed the Lucullus ovenware range. It included pieces decorated with motifs of eggs, vegetables, mushrooms, a cockerel and seafood on a background the teal colour of the Blue Moon series. His similar Herb Garden range was printed on to a lemon yellow glazed background.

At around the same time, he designed a range of decorative wall plaques in the shape of birds, fish and, strangely, daggers (all shown in the montage above). These all remain highly sought after to this day.

In 1963, Carter & Company rebranded and became Poole Pottery.

In 1964, he designed the Helios lamp bases. They were produced in many colourways including blue, brown, olive, wine and cream. In the same year, he also designed the hand-painted Bokhara tableware series, which included many shapes of lidded preserve pot.

He created the Compact range in 1965 which consisted of stackable, ribbed tea and coffee service pieces. The Compact shape was glazed in Azure (blue), Broadstone (speckled cream with dark brown edging), Chestnut (reddish brown), Choisya (olive green), Lakestone (speckled with light brown edging) and Parkstone (speckled grey with dark brown edging).

Towards the end of 1965, Jefferson left Poole Pottery. The book, Robert Jefferson: The Quiet Virtuoso is available from Abe Books and Amazon. Vintage examples of his work are always available for sale on eBay and Etsy.

Designer Desire: Carol Cutler

Selection of Carol Cutler designs for Poole Pottery | H is for Home

Carol Cutler has been on our radar from well before we even began trading as H is for Home. We used to collect Delphis design Poole Pottery and our favourite paintress has always been Carol Cutler (her married name was Kellett).

The more Delphis you see, the more you can immediately recognise Cutler’s designs. She often used lots of circular patterns and motifs that look like insects’ eyes or nut kernels. During her long career at Poole Pottery, she also worked on other ranges such as Aegean and Atlantis.

Delphis is surprisingly affordable and can always be found to buy online. We occasionally have the odd piece in stock and eBay and Etsy usually have plates, vases and dishes available.

Additional image credits: My Potshots | Robs Poole Pottery

Forthcoming Attractions: End March 2015

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Collection of vintage mid century modern pottery homeware items

We’ve picked up some lovely pieces of vintage mid century modern pottery on our travels this week.

Vintage Ceramica di Milano pottery vase | H is for Home

This vase dates from the 1950s/60s and was produced in Italy by Ceramica di Milano. These wares have their devoted fans, but generally speaking they’re not that well known and a bit underrated perhaps. They’re all very individual – and hand painted too. Fabulous decoration on this one with a very stylish bambolina – she’ll break a few hearts!

Vintage pottery bull by Elizabeth Skipworth for Lotus Pottery | H is for Home

This bull was designed by Elizabeth Skipworth for Lotus Pottery in the 1960s. They come in various sizes – this one’s a small money box.

Vintage Hornsea Pottery 'Tricorn' preserve pot | H is for Home

Next we have this stunning, lidded preserve pot. It’s from the ‘Tricorn’ range introduced by Hornsea Pottery in 1958; one of John Clappison’s early designs and becoming increasingly sought after.

Vintage pottery lamp base | H is for Home

This lamp dates from a similar period. Classic fifties colourway of grey & yellow. It’s unmarked, but we’ve had a similar lamp before. The names on the tip of our keypad! It would look great with a new drum shade in a grey hessian.

Vintage Poole Pottery 'Delphis' dish designed by Carol Cutler | H is for Home

Last but certainly not least – a classic piece of Poole Pottery ‘Delphis’ dating from the late 60s or early 70s. It’s by Carol Cutler, one of the most highly regarded decorators at the factory. She has a distinctive style with a wonderful flowing design and stunning colours.

We’ll be listing all these pieces in our webshop in the next few days.

Hostess with the mostest!

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vintage Hostess set comprising a floral apron and matching oven mitt | via @hisforhome

This fabulous set should help you in your quest to be the hostess with the mostest!

vintage Hostess set comprising a floral apron and matching oven mitt | via @hisforhome

Comprising kitchen apron & oven glove, there’ll certainly be no groovier attired rival vying for the title. It dates from the 1960s/70s and comes unused in the original packaging.

vintage blue Pifco 'Junior' fan vintage red Viking kitchen scales

vintage Poole Pottery Delphis pot vintage white enamel candle holder

It’s one of the new items we listed on the H is for Home shop this week.