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38659 - Fantasy Trinket Box -- Product Details

Poole Pottery

Poole Pottery are hand-crafted pieces of the highest quality that possess character and style, each one unique, lovely to own and eminently collectable. From the most delicate plate to the boldest vase, everything is made as a one-off: eyecatching, breath-taking, a creative fusion of contemporary design and traditional craft that has been perfected over 130 years.

Poole Pottery designers, potters, painters and sprayers are all sharing an eye for colour, shape and form, expert in the use of artistic glazes in a variety of decorative techniques. All committed to the continuing success of one of the UK's most enduring brands. This mix of individual talent and professional production methods is what makes Poole Pottery entirely unique.

The 'Living Glaze' technique pioneered at Poole about 40 years ago involves the application of different glazes which react with one another to create a lustrous depth and a fine surface crackling. The antique effect will develop over the years, adding to the unique character of each individual piece. You can often hear a ping as the chemistry continues back at home.

Poole Pottery - A Brief History

In 1873, a Builder's Merchant and Ironmonger going by the name of Jesse Carter bought a near derelict pottery in the town of Poole, Dorset. Jesse had already realized that there was a large deposit of clay just to the north of the town, and an excellent means of transporting his goods out, and his fuel in, through the harbour. By the 1880's the factory was well known for its tiling products, mosaic flooring and advertising panels.

A rival pottery in the same area was based at Hamworthy and known as the Patent Architectural Pottery. The Carter pottery rapidly overtook the Hamworthy factory and by 1895 the Carter family bought the competition. The next significant occurance was in 1901 when Jesse Carter retired. Upon Jesse's retirement in 1901, the control of the potteries were handed down to two of his sons, Charles and Owen. It would appear that Charles was the 'managerial' type and Owen was more of a 'hands-on' artist. In the following period of twenty years or so, is James Radley Young headed the Design Department and his influence doubtless helped to put Poole Potteries where it is today. The period between 1901 and 1920 saw countless coming and goings of the Carter family involving sons, uncles, brothers and the like, and the First World War did not do much to help the situation. But the Carter Company prospered and distinctive styles were beginning to emerge.

In 1921, Charles' son, Cyril in the company of Harold Stabler, John and Truda Adams set up a subsidiary of the Carter Company to produce ornamental and domestic pottery. We should bear in mind that at this time the Carter Company was primarily concerned with the manufacture of tiling and architectural products. Carter Stabler and Adams (CSA) with a lot of input from Truda Adams introduced a range of hand decorated, bright and vivid designs. The items produced in the 1920's and 30's are the most sought after today. The collections included decorative tiles, stoneware, vases, urns, jugs, bowls, plates, dishes and so on. They were all produced in a huge range of colours, decorations, and finishes. In addition Harold Stabler and his wife Phoebe introduced a faience range and a whole series of figures and plaques.

In parallel with the highly decorated wares, CSA also made a range of tableware. The first range was Studland designed by Stabler and produced in about 1930. However, this was soon superceeded by Purbeck and then in 1935-6 the Streamline range. As the Streamline range was being developed, and possibly more importantly, CSA developed a two-colour decor scheme. Known around the world today as 'Twintone', it gave the CSA tableware a distinct and recognisable character.

Possibly the most desirable pieces made during this period would be the 'Ship Plates'. It is rumoured that the artists decorating these plates could look across the harbour and copy the real thing which would be laying at anchor. However, the depicted vessel 'General Wolf', a Newfoundland Trader was built in 1797 so it seems doubtful that it would be in Poole harbour in 1939. In truth, they would appear to be based on a series of drawing by Arthur Bradbury. The 'Ship Plates' from the 1930's are highly desirable and keenly sought after.

Producing highly elaborate and decorative pottery was not a very good idea during the second World War and the British Government took a dim view of fancy goods at the time but somehow, the CSA factory kept going and survived the war era. Harold Stabler died in 1945 and John Adams was not in the best of health, so it fell to Cyril Carter to undertake the re-building of the company. He convinced the board of directors to invest in a new type of kiln in 1946, and by 1948 the factory was in almost full production again.

Post war production was based almost entirely on the pre-war designs, with the notable introduction of contemporary 'freeform' pieces designed by Alfred Read and Guy Sydenham in 1953/4. As these 'freeform' pieces were hand thrown and hand painted, it would be fair to say that each of them is a one-off. Then in 1958 the company appointed Robert Jefferson as it designer and he developed a whole new range of 'studio ware'. This was soon to become known as the Delphis range with its bright colours and individual styling. Launched in the 1960's, the Delphis range found immediate success and helped the company maintain its market position. The Delphis range was complemented by the Aegean range which was introduced in 1970. Sometimes Delphis and Agean can be difficult to identify as being one range or the other, particularly with the earlier Delphis pieces. The usual method of identification is the finer texture on the Delphis pieces and a more grainy texture on the Aegean range.

During this period, Cyril Carter departed us, and in c1964 Carter Stable and Adams became part of the Pilkington group, and changed its name to 'Poole Pottery Limited'. Between the Pilkington take-over and 1992 when a management buy-out took Poole Pottery back to an independant company, various other ranges of decorative wares have been produced such as Contrast, Sienna, Olympus, Domino and Calypso. Today, Poole Pottery is trade under the banner Poole Pottery 2007 Limited and is part of the Royal Stafford Group. Manufacturing is now carried out in Stoke-on-Trent.