Introducing... Poole Atlantis
The Atlantis range of pieces made by Poole Pottery that we are currently showcasing on our website, eight pieces in total, are an important contribution to British studio ceramics designs in the first half of the 1970s. Before we tell you something about them it is worth sharing something of the context of the factory in which they were made, Poole Pottery.
Poole Pottery, originally known as Carter and Co. and later Carter, Stabler and Adams, was established in 1873 in the Dorset town of Poole. Like many ceramics factories of this period, and throughout the Twentieth Century, they made both useful wares - tablewares, tiles, garden ceramics and so on and also decorative art pottery in the style of the day. It is the latter that is of most interest now to collectors.
Throughout their history Poole has been associated with some leading designers with whom they collaborated. Early in their history the Arts and Crafts designer Archibald Knox designed some ornamental flower pots for them to be made for Libertys. During the 1910s they worked with Roger Fry and Vanessa Bell, leading lights of the modernist art scene in Bloomsbury, who went on to establish a design studio called the Omega Workshop in London that was at the forefront of introducing modernist design in Britain. A few early prototype ceramics were made by them at Poole around 1914-16. They were also at the forefront in producing Art-Deco designs on their ceramics in the 1930s.
In the post-war years leading industrial designer Alfred Read helped establish a new set of Scandinavian influenced designs with flowing shapes and colourful patterns now known as freeform. And in 1958 a new art pottery studio was established within the factory under the leadership of Staffordshire trained ceramicist Robert Jefferson. He recruited recently art-school trained designer Tony Morris to help produce the studio designs and they were aided by stalwarts of the Poole factory, Leslie Elsden (glazing) and Guy Sydenham (throwing) to help produce the new studio ranges. Alongside them were a number of skilled painters, mostly women, who produced designs for these pieces too. Each was able to sign their own pieces with their monogram - a tradition that had been established at Poole as early as the 1920s.
The Poole Studio ran from 1962-66 and as well as selling items in the factory shop these pieces, many of them unique designs on standardised shapes, were also sold in leading department stores and galleries across the UK. These have now become highly collectable in their own right and we will cover them in detail here in a later exhibition we will be hosting in 2025.
In May 1966 the studio was merged with the art pottery section producing more traditional flower and bird designed gift ware - stylistically what Poole has always been most known for. This new section became known as the craft section and produced all the art pottery at Poole during the period 1966-80. Robert Jefferson left in 1966 but Tony Morris stayed on for a few years producing new designs that were put into production as new ranges. The word studio was dropped from the pieces and a new range emerged from it known as Delphis. Its bright coloured designs drew inspiration from both modern art and French studio ceramics coming for Vallauris in that decade. It has also gone on to become a collecting field too, especially the early pieces made before 1971.
Elsden and Sydenham stayed on in the craft section and were able to start developing their own designs which became ranges in their own right during the 1970s. The Aegean range with its pictorial scenes in browns, greens and yellows typifies the fashionable colour palette of the new decade. It was developed by Elsden and in production from 1969-79. Sydenham, however, turned more towards the studio pottery tradition being made outside of the factory conext. In 1966, as well as working at Poole, he set up his own studio in a small workshop on the shores of Poole harbour and began making his own pots.
The style he developed, very much influenced by this harbour environment, became know as the Atlantis range. This began in 1969 and continued until Sydenham retired from Poole in 1977. These pieces were more in the manner of the studio pieces made in the early 1960s than either the Delphis or Aegean ranges which were marketed as gift ware after 1971. While common shapes were used, many with a number code, each was designed as a unique peice of pottery. Sydenham made many of the pieces himself and some in collaboration with another potter Susan Dipple. Other potters working in the craft section also produced designs for the Atlantis range. These include: Beatrice Bolton, Catherine Connett, Jennie Haigh, and Carol Kellett.
Pieces were made in either red earthenware or cream stoneware and typically have a muted colour palette in brown, beige, cream, oatmeal, blue, and occaisionally green. Often having incised marks in their designs, their style is one that draws on the coastline with barnacles, pebbles, anemone, rockpools and shells often typical influences. A few pieces, highly sought after, incorporate face designs. Others include fish, flowers and animals. Most, however, are more abstract in their design.
Not made in large numbers these pieces are works of true studio pottery from a factory which a long history of artistic creativity in ceramic design. They are one of the high points of studio ceramics of their era and can compare with studio pottery being made elsewhere both in the UK and further afield. These designs, for example, have some similaries with those being produced by Jorgen Mogensen at Royal Copenhagen in Denmark around the same time.
A group of the eight pieces of Poole Atlantis for sale on our website from from 1st June. We will add to these in future.
A small Poole Atlantis pot designed and signed by Guy Sydenham.
The base showing Sydenham's monogram and typical marks on Atlantis pieces.
Two flared vases around 20cm in height from thr Atlantis range.
The mark and monogram on another Atlantis piece. This one is by Beatrice Bolton.