WILLIAM 150 COLLECTION

THE POTTER WHO OPENED THE DOOR TO MOORCROFT DESIGN, TECHNIQUE & ARTISTRY

One hundred and fifty years ago, one of the most gifted potters of his generation, William Moorcroft, was born. Quickly, the art potter gleaned that the consummate skills of botanical design and a passion for the natural world was not enough for his ambitions. In truth, to become an icon for the Applied Arts, success lies not simply in surface decoration and shape design, as these change with what is in vogue during each generation. Something more is always needed. A door had to be opened for generations of potters to perfect.

Whilst the emerging Art Nouveau designs of the continent inspired the young Moorcroft in terms of shape and design, it was to be in his home in the Potteries where he would perfect his ceramic alchemy, during his first job in 1897, as a designer for James Macintyre & Co. There followed the arrival of gold medals from across the Atlantic in St Louis in 1908 to Europe, including a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition in1925. In 1913 William launched a company under his own name, Moorcroft, and the company we know and love today, was firmly established.

With each piece echoing the hallmarks of William’s most renowned work, the Moorcroft Design Studio step forward to honour the founder, of what is said to be one of the greatest Arts and Crafts pottery companies today, with their WILLIAM 150 collection.

It is not yet known whether William Moorcroft experimented in salt-glazed designs due to concerns over the toxicity of his own lead-oxide glazes, abandoned in Walter Moorcroft’s era for safer metallic-oxides, or whether, he was momentarily influenced by the work of Cornish potter, Bernard Leach in the 1930s. Mischievously open-mouth fish with ribbed fins swim in a kaleidoscope of oatmeal and cornflower blues against the crisp, white ground in Shoaling.

• Designer:  Emma Bossons
• Dimensions: H 31.00 x W 16.00 x D 16.00 cm