The Dawn of the Desk - By Marni Andrews - The French word for a furniture craftsman is “ébéniste” from the early but short-lived practice of using ebony wood for veneers. Despite the switch to other woods, the label stuck...
The Bright Gems Collection - A wide selection of artists including; John Duffin, Richard Bilan, Chimot, Mary Taft, Dominic E. W. Wright, Francis Coudrill, Percy Bishop, Adge Baker, Maurice Brand, Fred Davis and contemporay works by Carmelo Asencio.
Dennis Chinaworks - Creative director and chief designer Sally Tuffin (of Poole Pottery and Moorcroft fame) is the leading force behind The Dennis Chinaworks...
Adam Wainwright - Sculptor - The works presented were created over a one year period whilst living in the town of Pietrasanta near Carrara, North Italy - the home of the Italian marble industry. The pieces are collectively named 'Fragments' and include 'Eclipse', 'Attilo', 'Moon Sequencer' and 'Black Prince'.
Wallpaper and the Retro Look - Responding to an increased interest in the retro look of the nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies and a desire for simplicity and minimalism...
Carlton Walking Ware - Collecting Carlton Walking Ware is my particular interest and I would like to know how many more are out there who are also taken with the quirky productions of the Carlton factory during the the seventies and the eighties...
Art Nouveau - The rest of Europe and the America followed France that led the way in the development of a highly ornate style of art as a reaction to academia and the late Victorian era’s general historical consensus...
Daum Brothers - The glass manufacturers of Daum Verrerie de Nancy (sometimes referred to as Daum Brothers) was founded by two brothers...
Emille Galle - A major advocate of the early twentieth century Art Nouveau movement, Emille Galle was the son of a glass-maker, Charles Galle-Reinemer from the Lorraine region in France...
Alphonse Mucha - The Art Nouveau movement has become synonymous with Alphonse Mucha though he never attested to be directly involved in what he termed a ‘new art’. A Prague museum is dedicated to Mucha’s work...
Art Deco - By Vision20 - The term Art Deco as the movement was eventually named, was derived from the French term 'Arts Decoratifs'...
Irene Fawkes - By Dr. E. Charles Nelson - I first came across Irene Fawkes’ work a 1970s London Transport Museum postcard; it led me on a wild-goose chase because the name given was “Miss T. Fawkes”. Intrigued by it, and by the fact that the artist was evidently not well known ...
The Cube Teapot and Cunard - Cunard utilitarian ware owes its existence to the inventor of the Patent Cube Teapot, the entrepreneur Robert Crawford Johnson. ..
Edna Best - Information about Edna Best is sparse outside of her career on stage and in the film industry...
Clarice Cliff - Probably the most famous Art Deco ceramics designer in the world is Clarice Cliff from Staffordshire in the North of England. Most people have heard the name and associate the style with bold and bright geometric designs...
Clarice Cliff & Colley Shorter - Chronology - Dates of significant events in the life and creative development of the Art Deco ceramics designer Clarice Cliff and her husband Colley Shorter of A. J. Wilkinson...
Susie Cooper - Susie Cooper, along with the likes of Charlotte Rhead and Clarice Cliff is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s great lady Art Deco ceramic designers...
Charlotte Rhead - Charlotte Rhead is generally regarded as one of the 3 great lady Art Designers of the twentieth century along with both Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff...
Frederick Rhead - Frederick Rhead originally studied at the Minton Factory under Marc Solon. He was the father of Charlotte Rhead (Art Deco ceramics designer) and Frederick Hurton...
Ashtead Pottery - In 1923 Sir Lawrence Weaver founded Ashtead Potters Limited to generate employment for disabled ex-servicemen. The studio pottery was established in the Surrey village of Ashtead...
Beswick - The Beswick factory is often associated with productions of novelty ceramic pieces, such as flying bird wall plaques and animal fancies including their highly popular ranges of horses...
Burleigh (Burgess & Leigh) - Originally called ‘flower jugs’, probably Burgess and Leigh’s most popular and well known are ornate character handle jugs, designs including flamingo, kingfisher, pheasant, parrot, dragon and squirrel...
Carltonare - J.F. Wiltshaw and H.T. Robinson teamed up in 1890 to trade from the Carlton Works in Staffordshire’s Stoke on Trent...
Crown Devon - Simon Fielding founded the Crown Devon Pottery in 1873 on the site of the existing Railway Pottery in Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire Potteries...
Crown Ducal - Crown Ducal was a trading arm of A.G. Richardson & Co. Ltd. Based at the Gorden Pottery, Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, England. Set up in 1915, the factory produced bright Deco patterns including the fashionable Red Tree pattern...
E. Radford - Early hand thrown Art Deco pieces from the E. Radford pottery command a wide collecting base today. Patterns incorporating floral imagery, trees and landscapes...
Goebel - Founded in Austria, the pottery of William Goebel is still trading today. Goebel pieces from the 1930’s in the Art Deco style...
Goldscheider - The Austrian Goldscheider company are most well known for their Art Deco wall masks and figurines. High quality terracotta and earthenware pieces...
Grays - In 1907 the business of Grays was established by Edward Gray, a pottery salesman in Manchester in England. The company moved in 1912 to Hanley, Stoke on Trent...
Lenci - The Lenci factory was founded in Turin in 1919 with production originally concentrating on hand-painted and stuffed dolls...
Maling - In 1762 the Maling family established a pottery in North Hylton near Sunderland in England producing both plain and decorative earthenware...
Myott - The family-run company of Myott, Son & Co. Limited produced earthenware from as early as 1898 and initially operated at the Alexander Pottery in Stoke on Trent...
Poole Pottery - Since 1873, the seaside town of Poole in Dorset has been the home to the Poole Pottery, which is famed for its output of studio ware and collectable ranges...
E. Radford - The hand thrown Art Deco output from E. Radford pottery has a wide collectors base with early pieces being highly sought after...
Rosenthal - Philip Rosenthal, in 1879, founded a porcelain manufacturers at Selb, Bavaria. Figures inspired by the Art Deco style...
Royal Doulton - The name of Royal Doulton is familiar to most people today with a likely example on display somewhere in the house...
Royal Dux - The Royal Dux factory was founded in Dux in Bulgaria (now the Czech Republic’s Duchov) ...
Royal Winton - Popularly known for its chintz (tightly packed floral design) output, Royal Winton originally began as Grimwade Brothers in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England...
Shelley - The company of Wade, Heath & Co. are known for the production of nursery ware in the Art Deco style exemplified by their ranges of Walt Disney characters...
Arthur Wood & Son Ltd. - The company initially formed part of Capper & Wood, which was established in 1884 and produced mainly teapots...
Wedgwood - Wedgwood has become a house hold name on the strengths of its sheer output, quality and longevity. The company was established in the 18th century...
Wood & Sons Ltd. - The pottery of Wood & Sons Limited was founded in 1865 by Thomas Francis Wood in the Burslem area of Stoke on Trent...
Art Deco Glass - A diversity of glass production was seen in the Art Deco era displaying different degrees of quality, some becoming popular, others not quite so. French glass designer René Lalique...
René Lalique - In the world of Art Deco glass design a name to conjure with is that of the master René Lalique who was born in France at Ay-sur-Marne in 1860...
Monart - The company of John Moncrief in Perth Scotland produced Monart Glass in the Art Deco style.
Whitefriars - Decorated with teardrops contrasting colours the glass made by Whitefriars drew on every tradition.
Louis Comfort Tiffany - Louis Comfort Tiffany was born in 1848 to businessman Charles Tiffany who owned New York Fifth Avenue’s Tiffany & Co...
Louis Armstrong - The greatest trumpet (and cornet) player of all time, one of the most influential musicians and singers of the twentieth century...
Bix Beiderbecke - The greatest white trumpet player. Died of alcoholism in 1931, but not before committing a large number of solos to disc...
Art Blakey - One of the key figures in modern jazz and the Hard Bop style of the 1950s...
Cab Calloway - Not merely a fantastic entertainer and singer, ‘king of hi-de-ho’ and chronicler of Minnie the Moocher, but the leader of a damn good big band...
Nat King Cole - Wrongly considered by many to be one of the easy listening brigade, Cole was in fact an important jazz pianist in the 1940s...
John Coltrane - Tenor sax giant and putative jazz messiah. Major league career lasted only about 14 years...
Miles Davis - Possibly the most influential trumpet player, band leader and style setter in jazz since the war. Embraced bebop...
Bill Evans - The finest white jazz pianist. Worked with the likes of Charles Mingus, George Russell and Miles Davis...
Benny Goodman - The pied piper of the big band era (1935-47) even if he did not deserve the title of ‘King of Swing’...
Erskine Hawkins - No relation to Coleman Hawkins, but a high note trumpet specialist who fronted a very good band that was consistently popular with dancers...
Stan Kenton - Head of the ‘heavy metal’ tendency in big bands. Stan’s bands were bigger and louder than anyone else’s...
Andy Kirk - An understated and undersung big band leader, from the Midwest...
Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Created by the impresario Irving Mills (who managed Duke Ellington at one time), the band was never big in its own right...
Charles Mingus - A brilliant bass player, a fascinating composer and very complex and volatile character, who recording some of jazz’s best compositions...
Thelonious Sphere Monk - As a sideman said to a journalist when Monk visited the UK once: ‘You got castles over here? Well, Thelonious, he’s the king of hip castle’...
Bud Powell - Bop’s fleetest pianist, capable of incredible single line improvisations in the 1940s...
Sonny Rollins - The greatest living tenor sax player? Certainly one of the last of the Old Masters of jazz, who first recorded in the late 1940s...
Art Tatum - Virtually universally agreed to have been the greatest jazz pianist of all time, particularly by other pianists...
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