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    Portmeirion
    Portmeirion
    Portmeirion
    Ebook107 pages44 minutes

    Portmeirion

    By Will Farmer and Rob Higgins

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    About this ebook

    From gift shop designs for the holiday village in north Wales, Portmeirion pottery evolved to a global business, thanks in large part to the design flair of Susan Williams-Ellis. She captured the spirit of the kitchens and dining rooms of the 1960s and '70s with bold new shapes and designs that could be both modern and traditional. 'Botanic Garden', introduced in 1972, used old flower prints with contemporary shapes and high quality manufacture, and has remained in production for 40 years. In the 21st century the company has moved vigorously forwards with a new generation of designers and a marketplace in over 50 countries.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJul 20, 2012
    ISBN9781782001126
    Portmeirion

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      Book preview

      Portmeirion - Will Farmer

      VISIT

      INTRODUCTION

      IN 1953 Susan Williams-Ellis started to manage the souvenir shop in Portmeirion, the Italianate holiday resort her father had built in North Wales. At first she commissioned wares to her own designs from Gray’s Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, and then in 1960 she bought Gray’s followed by Kirkham’s, which enabled her to manufacture as well as to decorate. In 1963 Portmeirion Pottery launched a series of designs that were to catapult Susan Williams-Ellis to the forefront of tableware design. Her creations captured the imagination of the public with contemporary designs that did not follow the traditions of Stoke-on-Trent, yet nor were they derivative of contemporary Scandinavian or Italian styles.

      ‘Samarkand’, 1964, was a development of Susan’s moulded wares. Instead of being covered by single-glaze colour, the motifs were picked out with hand-applied colours.

      Coffee cans in the ‘Black Diamond’ pattern, a simplified version of the ‘Gold Diamond’ introduced by Susan in 1961.

      Strikingly tall ‘Cylinder’ coffee pots received the bold, almost crayon lines of ‘Monte Sol’ transfers, and the ‘Totem’ range had raised surface patterns, which were highlighted in flowing green, blue, amber or white glazes. By the early 1970s Portmeirion was a leader for fashionable tableware, as well as producing huge numbers of cheaper gifts and souvenirs, including everything from mugs to chamber pots.

      Susan Williams-Ellis updated the design range in the 1970s with new shapes, the best available technology for transfer printing and the revival of carefully selected antique prints. ‘Botanic Garden’, launched in 1972, adapted eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century flower prints, but with a definition and boldness that matched contemporary living. More than any single design for household ceramics in the last fifty years, ‘Botanic Garden’ has proved to have global appeal with millions of homes around the world using it every day.

      Fruit, fish and bird designs followed, again using antique prints and the best available transfer-printing technology. ‘Pomona’, ‘Compleat Angler’ and ‘British Birds’ respectively remain in production, though ‘Botanic Garden’ still makes up about half the output of the Portmeirion Potteries.

      As Portmeirion Pottery moves into the twenty-first century it has become Portmeirion Group plc, with worldwide marketing and production. Sales and outsourced manufacture in the Far East are critical to the company’s future financial stability. The tableware range now includes contemporary designs in modern fluid shapes, decorated in pastel green and blue shades.

      ‘Botanic Garden’ drawing from The Portmeirion Book of Country Cooking, 1988.

      Butterfly, detail from ‘Botanic Garden’ plate.

      Not only surviving but riding the global economic downturn, Portmeirion has assimilated several businesses, including two of the greatest names of British ceramics, Spode and Royal Worcester. The UK workforce is expanding, and production of Spode’s historic ‘Blue Italian’ range has once more returned to Stoke-on-Trent. With the introduction of the iconic heritage design range from Susan Williams-Ellis and continuing injections of contemporary design, Portmeirion promises to have a strong future.

      The ‘Sophie Conran Collection’ has been enormously successful since its launch and is seen here in 2011, taking centre stage in the homeware section of the premier department store Liberty of London.

      The Portmeirion holiday village basking in sun, with the tower at its high point, showing the Italianite design inspirations.

      PORTMEIRION VILLAGE AND GRAY’S POTTERY

      THE STORY OF Portmeirion Pottery really began in 1953 when a young Susan Williams-Ellis took charge of the gift shop in Portmeirion, the Italianate holiday village in North Wales built by her father, Clough Williams-Ellis. Born in 1883, he was an architect with many varied commissions ranging from country houses to larger-scale Government schemes. His family had roots in North Wales, and while serving in the Army during the First World War he toyed with the idea of building a

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