Whenever set designers are required to evoke a feel of the 1930s, they will almost certainly include some brightly coloured, often geometrically-shaped, china. In the English-speaking world, this will invariably have been designed by, or copied from, the designs of Clarice Cliff. For many, Clarice Cliff is Art Deco china.

Clarice Cliff was a designer, a decorator of chinaware. Her designs were different; they were hand-painted, colourful and captured the feel or zeitgeist of her time. Nowadays, her pottery has become part of the descriptive shorthand for the period between the wars. The artistic merit of her work may be arguable, and the quality of the china itself is not of the best. Everyone, though, must applaud her innovation and vision, and her ability, for the most part, to lead and fit within the public taste. What is most remarkable about her work is the way in which it has become, and remains, very collectable.

A Potted Biography

Clarice was born in 1899 and lived all her life in The Potteries¹; that part of Staffordshire around Stoke-on-Trent that has always been the centre of the china industry in Britain. From a modest home, she left school at 13 and was apprenticed to an enameller, moving on after three years to a lithographers². Her family encouraged her artistic talents and sent her to evening art classes, which she continued for many years. She was able to take advantage of the absence of men during the First World War and quickly took an opportunity with a larger company, AJ Wilkinson, in the decorating department. It was not long before her talent was recognised and she was encouraged to produce designs of her own, using old stock from the newly purchased Newport Pottery. In 1927, the company sent her to The Royal School of Art in London for a few months to hone her skills, then set her up in a small studio attached to the pottery and gave her the freedom to pursue her designs and ideas.

The Bizarre Girls

Her first commercial designs were called Bizarre Ware, and her team of all female painters were called The Bizarre Girls. The designs were completely different to anything already on the market, using bold geometric designs and shapes and vivid colours. Bizarre Ware was very successful, and was soon being sold in the top department stores in the UK, the USA and in Australia. As a key part of the marketing effort, The Bizarre Girls toured the major stores and trade fairs, giving demonstrations of their techniques. The entire Newport Pottery was soon turned over completely to the products and Clarice was made art director of the company. Wilkinson also used her designs on their standard chinaware, and the designs themselves became much less geometric and more decorative, though always highly stylised and always much copied. The success continued through the 1930s. It was no mean achievement to keep a factory in full employment producing luxury china through the Depression. After the Second Word War, during which production ceased, through to the 1950s, fashions had changed and her designs were more subdued and less successful. All in all, she produced some 360 designs, many of which were used on a variety of chinaware, including vases, statuettes, plaques and bowls, as well as tea and dinner sets.

She always lived a quiet life, eventually marrying her boss Colley Shorter³, in 1940 when she was 41, after the death of his wife. He died in 1963 and Clarice died, childless, in 1972. By the time of her death, she was able to witness the first stirrings of the collecting fever that has since taken hold. The first major retrospective of her work was held in 1971 at Brighton, Sussex, for which she was interviewed. There have since been many exhibitions, books and TV programmes covering her work, Most of which can be traced by looking at The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club or The Clarice Cliff Website.

A Bizarre Phenomenon

The bold and innovative designs and shapes of Clarice Cliff pottery have always attracted attention. In the 1930s, many fashionable homes had some, and the remnants of these everyday sets of chinaware were coming onto the secondhand market from house clearances at the end of the 1960s - when their colour and vitality chimed with the times - when, at flea markets, a single plate might be bought for $10/£8, then a phenomenal price.

Although the company, AJ Wilkinson, has now disappeared, many records remain extant, and it is relatively easy to trace the complete catalogue of her work. Many people will attempt to collect every article made of a particular design, or will devote themselves to teapots, sugar shakers, plaques etc, endeavouring to collect as many designs as possible. For others, it is sufficient just to have the name Clarice Cliff on the base of a piece.

Whatever the reason, over the last 30 years, a huge bandwagon/fad/fashion has developed to the point where that simple, single plate crudely painted on poor china may fetch $150/£100 and some of the rarer, more desirable pieces will change hands for many, many thousands. Clarice Cliff pottery was always aimed at the top end of the market, sold in Harrods, not Woolworths, but was, in its time, a bit of fun, cocking a snook at the sober and traditional ware on sale alongside it. Now, even the wealthiest Researcher would be hard pressed to afford to collect a dinner service, fast approaching the value, in money terms, of the finest porcelain ever made.