Hornsea Pottery

Hornsea Pottery in the East Riding of Yorkshire was one of the most popular British ceramic brands of the mid-to-late 20th century. Its innovative pottery designs, decorated with graphical patterns, became staple tableware items of the day.

Brothers Colin and Desmond Rawson set up the company in 1949, making plaster of paris souvenirs from home.

They moved on to clay when their friend Philip Clappison invested money to buy a kiln. After their initial success, the brothers moved to larger premises at the Old Hall in Hornsea Market Place.

An injection of youthful ideas came via Philip Clappison’s son, John, who was studying at Hull Regional College of Arts, where he earned a national diploma in design, specialising in ceramics. Working at Hornsea allowed him to develop his ideas in decorative techniques and glazing.

The first of his launches was the successful ‘Elegance’ range in 1955, which had contemporary organic shapes and included vases, cruet sets, bowls and butter dishes. Its black and white striped glazed exterior design with a brightly coloured interior was very popular with younger homemakers.

Similar ranges followed as John experimented further. ‘Tricorn’ was a collection of small tableware items featuring a three-pointed body shape. They were decorated with a blue and white glazed design, topped off with a stylised star motif.

Another popular range – now highly sought after by collectors – was ‘Home Decor,’ inspired by Scandinavian design.

The company moved to a new factory site in Edenfield in 1954, on the site of the Hornsea Brick & Tile Works. Now the company had the chance to really expand its product range, employing more designers, including Alan Luckman, George Ratcliffe and Dorothy Marion Campbell, whose creations included African figures, modern vases, dogs, giraffes, and cats.

Hornsea also produced a range of ‘Fauna’ vases between 1954 and 1967 – cute woodland animals set against tree trunks and logs (pictured) – until the pottery decided to concentrate on large-scale production of tableware.

Hornsea opened its factory to the public in 1954, creating a much-loved visitor attraction. They discovered that visitors liked seeing how the pottery was made and began offering factory tours.

The site became one of the premier tourist attractions in the area, with a lake and picnic areas, a model village, an adventure playground, go-karts, radio-controlled cars and boats, cafes, horse and cart rides, a car museum and a mini zoo.

A “seconds” shop – selling Hornsea items at reduced prices – was one of the first American-style factory outlets in the UK. At its peak, there were over 350,000 visits a year.

In 1967, Hornsea began producing a full range of modern tableware lines, including ‘Heirloom’, ‘Bronte’, and ‘Saffron’. They all used a resist technique pioneered by Clappison to stop the glaze sticking to the screen-printed designs.

By 1974, Edenfield employed 250 staff and turned out over three million pieces a year. Inevitably, it was necessary to expand again, but the company faced objections from local government.

Eventually, the company opened its second premises in Lancaster on the opposite side of England.

The Lancaster factory was only in operation for 12 years due to high development costs and new competition from cheap imports.

Clappison continued to innovate into the 1980s and 1990s, but the company went into receivership in 2000, and the factory had to close for good.

Original 1950s slipware vases and 1970s brown storage jars are now popular with a new generation of collectors and enthusiasts.

A museum in the town of Hornsea showcases more than 2,000 original pieces.