31 Facts About Clarice Cliff

Clarice Cliff was an English ceramic artist and designer.

Active from 1922 to 1963, Cliff became the head of the Newport Pottery factory creative department.

Clarice Cliff's ancestors moved from the Eccleshall area to Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, around 1725.

Clarice Cliff was born on the terrace of a modest house in Meir Street on 20 January 1899.

Clarice Cliff was sent to a different school than her siblings.

Clarice Cliff made papier-mache models at school for a local pottery company.

At age 13, Clarice Cliff started working in the pottery industry as a gilder.

Clarice Cliff added gold lines on pottery of traditional design.

Clarice Cliff studied art and sculpture at the Burslem School of Art.

Clarice Cliff chose not to follow this traditional path; instead she acquired many skills, such as modeling figurines and vases, gilding, keeping pattern books, and hand-painting ware.

Clarice Cliff was married, but later married Cliff after his wife died.

Over time, Clarice Cliff developed her skills and studied at the Royal College of Art and visited Paris.

Clarice Cliff was given a second apprenticeship at the age of 25.

Clarice Cliff used on-glaze enamel colours for these, which enabled a brighter palette than underglaze colours.

Clarice Cliff covered the imperfections in simple patterns of triangles, in a style that she called 'Bizarre.

Clarice Cliff was joined by young painter, Gladys Scarlett, who helped her with the ware.

In 1928, Clarice Cliff produced a simple, hand painted pattern of Crocus flowers in orange, blue and purple.

Crocus continued to be produced after WW2, and the final pieces with Clarice Cliff marks were made in 1963.

The original leaflet for the Applique patterns featured just two, Lucerne and Lugano, but Clarice Cliff's career witnessed 14 Applique patterns that had been designed by 1932: Avignon, Windmill, Red Tree, Idyll, Palermo, Blossom, Caravan, Bird of Paradise, Etna, Garden, Eden and Monsoon in addition to the original two.

Clarice Cliff's work involved spending more time with Colley Shorter, and this gradually developed into an affair, conducted in secrecy.

Clarice Cliff devised many ways of marketing these: in-store painting demonstrations, for which Clarice Cliff chose just the prettiest of her painters and most famously she and Shorter had the idea to actually pay major 1930s celebrities to endorse the ware.

Between 1932 and 1934 Clarice Cliff was the art director for a major project involving nearly 30 artists of the day to promote good design on tableware.

Clarice Cliff's patterns are highly stylised and interpreted in strong colors, such as the 1933 Honolulu pattern.

Clarice Cliff produced a colourway variation on this by simply changing the trees to shades of blue and pink, and this was then called Rudyard after a local Staffordshire beauty spot.

One picture which shows Clarice Cliff informally was taken when a South African stockist of her ware, from Werner Brothers, visited the factory on a buying trip.

Clarice Cliff is seen with the 3-year-old daughter and wife of the stockist.

Clarice Cliff seemed to enjoy playing a lesser role at the factory, knowing that she could not recapture those crazy days of the thirties.

The death of Colley Shorter in 1963 led Clarice Cliff to sell the factory to Midwinter in 1964 and she retired, becoming somewhat of a recluse.

From December 1971 to January 1972, the first exhibition of Clarice Cliff pottery took place at Brighton, East Sussex.

Clarice Cliff reluctantly provided comments for the catalogue, though she declined to attend the opening.

In 1985, a series of pieces were produced under the title The Bizarre Collection, with the mark for the "Royal Staffordshire Pottery by Clarice Cliff", and marketed by the Midwinter pottery.