Clarice Cliff: a signature piece of The Potteries

Stoke-on-Trent’s world-famous 20th century ceramicist Clarice Cliff has been honoured with an official Blue Plaque, one of the first outside London under a national expansion of the scheme.

It pays homage to Cliff, renowned for her innovative, colour-rich Art Deco designs, and is now proudly on display at her former flat in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, where she lived at the height of her success ().

And today in her hometown – regarded as a world capital of ceramics and the spiritual home of British pottery – visitors can follow in Cliff’s footsteps and see examples of her work in museum collections.

Here we take a look at her fascinating life, and her lasting legacy.

Instantly recognised worldwide, the name Clarice Cliff is synonymous not only with The Potteries, but also with Art Deco, geometric patterns and colourful designs. Not to mention, antique collecting.

Most people with just a passing interest in ceramics and fine china can identify a piece of Clarice Cliff ware: even if they can’t always afford it.

But her own life story is equally dazzling and is one of a “local lass” from Stoke-on-Trent who not only “made good”, but also made the world (quite literally) a brighter and more colourful place.

It is a story that was given a new lease of life in a Sky Original movie, The Colour Room, starring Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) and Matthew Goode (The Imitation Game), which was shot in Stoke-on-Trent & The Potteries, and won critical praise when released in 2021.

Cliff was born on January 20, 1899, in one of the Potteries famous six towns, Tunstall.

Her father, Harry Thomas Cliff, worked at an iron foundry in Tunstall, while her mother Ann took in washing to supplement an income that provided for a large family of eight children.

Like so many others, Cliff started work in the pottery industry at the age of 13. But she also studied art and sculpture at the Burslem School of Art in the evenings.

Ambitious and talented, in 1916 she made the unusual decision at the time to move to the factory of A.J. Wilkinson in Burslem to boost her career opportunities.

In the early 1920s the decorating manager at the factory, Jack Walker had brought Cliff to the attention of one of factory owners, Arthur Colley Austin Shorter, who managed the company with his brother Guy.

Shorter, married at that time, was 17 years older than Cliff, but there was a chemistry in their personal life as well as in the factory, and Shorter took the time to nurture her skills and ideas, and arranged for her to spend time at The Royal College of Art in London, and in Paris.

Given plenty of encouragement, as well as her own studio in the adjoining Newport Factory, she first introduced her famous ‘Bizarre’ wares to the world in 1927. Amid economic recession, Clarice designed innovative, colour-rich pottery as her career blossomed and her ware reached the windows of major stores in London – and across the world.

From the earliest examples of her work, which had a hand-painted ‘Bizarre by Clarice Cliff’ mark, usually in a rust-coloured paint, she went on to be joined by a group of equally enthusiastic “Bizarre girls”, who were taken-on by Cliff not only as staff but almost as a family of her own.

Soon, a more professional backstamp was made for her ware, which carried Cliff’s facsimile signature, and proclaimed “Hand painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff, Newport Pottery England”.

Following the death of his wife in 1940, Shorter married Cliff. But it was the couple’s business partnership that had taken the pottery industry by storm.

That factory continued to produce pottery bearing Clarice’s name until 1964; but following Shorter’s death, the factory was sold to Midwinter and Cliff retired to her beloved home, Chetwynd House.

Cliff died on 23 October 1972, and today her work still collected, valued and admired the world over.

While the Blue Plaque is the latest celebration of her life and work, visitors to Stoke-on-Trent and The Potteries can follow in her footsteps by visiting potteries almost unchanged since the 1800s, seeing world-class ceramic displays and even have a go at pottery throwing.

Film fans can also visit the real-life locations of The Colour Room including Gladstone Pottery Museum – where hit TV show The Great Pottery Throw Down is also filmed – and Middleport Pottery.

And among the new wave of ceramic designers who make their home in The Potteries is Emma Bailey. Born and bred in Stoke-on-Trent, her work is steeped in the heritage of the ‘Potteries’ and inspired by Cliff (www.emmabaileyceramics.co.uk).

For more information on Stoke-on-Trent as a destination, see www.visitstoke.co.uk

For more on Sky Original movie, The Colour Room see our story here.

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    Clarice Cliff plate - Potteries Museum and Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

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    Clarice Cliff jug - Potteries Museum and Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

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    Art Deco, Potteries Museum and Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent. Photo: Ian Weightman