Susie Cooper

Key dates

• 1922-1929 Working for A.E.Gray
• 1929 Founded Susie Cooper Pottery, Tunstall. Moved to Chelsea Works, Burslem
• 1931 Moved to Crown Works, Burslem
• 1933 Merged with Bursley Ltd. (subsidiary of Wood & Sons)
• 1940 Awarded Royal Designer for Industry by Royal Society of Arts
• 1950 Merged with Jason China to become Susie Cooper China Ltd.
• 1958 Merged with R.H. and S.L. Plant
• 1966 Became part of Wedgwood Group
• 1972 Became freelance designer
• 1979 Awarded O.B.E.
• 1980 Susie Cooper Pottery, Burslem closed
• 1980 Designing for William Adams & Sons Ltd (part of Wedgwood Group)
• 1985 Featured in Pottery Ladies series in four parts on Channel 4 - Susie Cooper, Clarice Cliff, Charlotte Rhead
• 1987 Honorary Doctor of the Royal College of Art
• 1987 Reproduction Kestrel shape breakfast sets produced by Wedgwood
• 1993 Awarded Honorary Doctor of Letters by Staffordshire University
• 1995 Died on Isle of Man

About Susie Cooper

Susie Cooper was the youngest of the seven children in her family, having three sisters and three brothers. She enjoyed drawing as a child and began her art education in an informal way by going to evening classes at Burslem School of Art.

Her ability was noted and with a scholarship, Susie Cooper was able to go to the Art School full-time. She did not specialise in ceramic design there but followed a broad curriculum which led to an interest in fashion design as a possible career. To get a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art, it was necessary to already be employed in a career using decorative art and so in 1922 she joined A.E. Gray & Co. Ltd. in Mayer Street, Hanley, initially as a piecework paintress.

A. Edward Gray quickly recognised her talents and in 1924 designated Susie Cooper designer. A special backstamp was devised for her designs, incorporating her name. Many designs of this period feature simple hand-painted floral designs and in 1928 banded wares were introduced.

A.E. Gray and Company Ltd. was a decorating firm, buying in white-ware shapes from other manufacturers. This limitation on Susie Cooper's design ideas led to her break away to set up her own business on her birthday on 29 October1929. Her partner in the venture was her brother-in-law Albert "Jack" Beeson.

Disaster struck the newly founded company since the landlord was made bankrupt and it was only in the Spring of 1930 that real business began in the Chelsea Works, Moorland Road, Burslem, with Susie Cooper buying in earthenware shapes to be decorated with her own designs. Patterns were designed which could be reproduced to a high quality by her team of paintresses.

The enthusiasm with which these wares were greeted at the British Industries Fair 1931 led Harry Wood of Wood and Sons, her major white-ware supplier, to offer space at his Crown Works, Burslem with the promise of making Susie Cooper shapes. This was a triumph since the shapes and patterns could be designed as a whole. A good example of this is the 1932 Kestrel range of tableware which continued in production until the 1950s.

Susie Cooper also improved the design of lithographs by working closely with the lithographic printers to produce patterns which gave consideration to the form and function of the wares. Paintresses were still used to produce borders and other decorations. Around this time a range of carved and painted ‘studio’ wares were also produced featuring a range of stylised plant forms and animal subjects.

‘Uncle Jack’ was a great enthusiast for Susie Cooper Ware and was a very successful salesman. He coined the phrase No home is complete without Susie Cooper Pottery, causing the Duchess of York to buy items at the British Industries Fair in 1933. The company was based on the family team and its ultimate success was due to the great selling ability of Jack Beeson, who was the London Agent, combined with Susie Cooper’s ability to design for changing lifestyles. An example of this was the creation of smaller dinner services to reflect less formal dining habits and the ability for consumers to buy additional dishes as needed.

International acclaim has always been accorded to Susie Cooper. Her designs were seen in Paris in 1925 and 1937 and in many exhibitions in England. The superiority of her work was noted in 1940 when the Royal Society of Arts awarded her the accolade Royal Designer for Industry (RDI), the first time that the award had been made solely for pottery design.

The Second World War brought serious problems since non-essential work was stopped for the war effort. A valiant attempt to keep going with a restricted range of simple patterns was defeated when fire gutted the Crown Works in 1942. Stocks of lithographic patterns were destroyed so new patterns once again relied on hand decoration. Banded wares also had a post-war revival.

Susie Cooper confronted the challenge offered by government restrictions by turning to producing bone china. In 1950 she bought a '2 oven factory' in Longton (the Jason China Co. Ltd) and turned its production from 'Longton China' into 'Fine China'. The teawares designed by Susie Cooper were produced at Longton and decorated at Burslem. Accolades followed each other in quick succession. Susie Cooper bone china designs (Quail shape) were chosen for the Royal Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, 1951, and other ranges were shown in other areas of the Festival displays. By 1952 identical patterns were being produced in both bone china and earthenware to maximise customer choice.

In 1957 a second fire brought many problems. The Crown Works was very badly damaged and production was disrupted for almost a year. Rising phoenix-like and looking to expand Susie Cooper decided to make dinner ware in addition to the tea and fancy wares. It was with this in mind that she joined RH & SL Plant in 1961, since this firm, which marketed under the name Tuscan, had a bone china biscuit oven not in use. The earthenware production, which had declined in popularity throughout the 1950s, was phased out, the last earthenware patterns being dated 1964.

In 1966 Susie Cooper Pottery merged with Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. Her factory, Crown Works, Burslem, remained an autonomous unit until 31 December 1980. There were many successful Susie Cooper designs throughout this phase, using deeper shades of matt colour. Each of them was accepted for the Design Council's Index of well designed consumer products. However, only around 75% of her designs were reaching the market, reflecting her loss of directorial control in the larger organisational structure, and so in 1972 she resigned as a director.

In 1980 the Crown Works were closed for economic reasons and Susie Cooper moved to William Adams and Sons, who were also part of the Wedgwood Group. There she produced new designs for oven-to-tableware crockery. At the age of 84 she retired to the Isle of Man and there she produced non-ceramic works such as her "seed paintings" (depicting natural forms using natural materials such as wood and seeds) and also some textile designs.

The designs of Susie Cooper shapes have always been decidedly modern, reflecting those of the day but recurring motifs are of plants or animals executed in muted, tasteful shades.

Collection details

A range of Susie Cooper wares can be viewed in the ceramics gallery.  In addition, some items from the reserve collection are featured online.

Further reading

Casey, A. Susie Cooper ceramics: a collectors’ guide, Jazz Publications, 1992

Eatwell, A. Susie Cooper productions, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1987

Youds, B. Susie Cooper: an elegant affair, Thames and Hudson, 1996

Please note that the photograph appears by kind permission of Ellesbrough Limited, Isle of Man and Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.