What qualifies as a "studio pottery"

I seem to remember from way back, it was definitive number of employees at a pottery.
A certain low number, meant a "studio", but larger than that was deemed "industrial".
Troika eg. at it's peak had many workers, some on work experienc, as decorators etc.
I was planning a post on the Saunders IOW pottery, does it go in "studio" or "British potteries"?
What's the concencus?

I would say it isn't studio as the pottery had a manager and lots of employees, it also had a much larger parent company

Yes Dan, I was thinking that, though it was experimental, parallels with Elton eg.
Still wonder if there is a definition though.

Some factories had studios on the side. Recently came across a reference to Shelf Pottery studio pieces.

I think that we all have our own definitions and they are all probably different.

NaomiM wrote:Some factories had studios on the side. Recently came across a reference to Shelf Pottery studio pieces.

Yes obviosly Poole springs to mind.

denbydump wrote:

NaomiM wrote:Some factories had studios on the side. Recently came across a reference to Shelf Pottery studio pieces.

Yes obviosly Poole springs to mind.

And Dartington

Well yes I think most industrial potteries had "studios" on the side, for developement
and trialling. Some produced stuff that never went into any catalogues, or general
production, David Yorath at Denby for example. Poole is interesting, as they had big
exhibitions of their "studio" range, but was that just an exercise to promote the
Poole pottery name?

 We had a bit of discussion on this before - I'd always wondered as well.

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t6946-random-pottery-questions-and-answers-thread?highlight=questions

xx

This thread is spooky ! Only yesterday I was looking for the definitive answer to the question 'What is the difference between art pottery and studio pottery?' I didn't find one so maybe this discussion will give me an answer.

It's a sliding scale so I don't think there is definitive answer. What about the Leach Standard Ware? That would be the factory end of studio pottery, where as the likes of Poole and Dartington studio ware would be the studio end of factory pottery.

Well put Naomi, It was just something I seem to remember about a "studio" pottery
being defined as on with less than, say, 10 employees for example.

The term "Art pottery" seems to be defined by decorative wares made generally, but
not exclusively, by the larger companies c1875-1939. Probably coined from/by the
arts and crafts movement, de Morgan/Morris, where artists did decoration.
like at Doulton/Langley/Pilks etc. but then was applied to everything else with
interesting glazes. The term seems to have fallen out of use after WW2.

I think Art Pottery was made by companies breaking away from the traditional and making Art Nouvaeu and then Art Deco pieces. Some were still factories, though, such as Clarice Cliff at Newport Pottery.

I would deem Saunders as "Art Pottery" personally, but I would say its on the fine line between Art Pottery and Studio Pottery.

Personally I'd list it under studio Pottery as most, if not all of it was hand thrown and decorated.

I suspect it had less members of staff than Leach Pottery.

I always thought that a studio pot was made from start to finish by one person but in most cases the business would not succeed on that basis which is why such potters often teach pottery and give lectures

It is a legitimate definition Dan but it would mean that a number of Bernard Leach's signed pieces and virtually all of Shoji Hamada's output would not be classed as studio pottery.

my question then is this:
if you were offered 2 pieces of Hamada pottery, both of equal quality, equally appealing to the eye and to the aesthetic  taste of today's market but one was made solely by the man himself whereas the other was produced with the help of his team of assistants
Which one would you choose? and would you be willing to pay extra for 100% Hamada?

The term" studio pottery " can mean pots that have been produced from a studio environment by one or more potters , The Term "Studio Potter" to my mind means a single potter doing the piece by themselves from start to finish .

Simplest way is if it's an individual potter then studio thread ,if otherwise Ie poole etc then british thread, otherwise the thing gets cluttered up .

So Wallwork shouldn't be in the Studio thread?
 

Like the Troika example I mentioned, it could start with a couple of potters making
one-off pieces, but as poularity, and then, demand increased, it became essentially
a production-line.

Who cares ?you either like them or not .

dantheman wrote:my question then is this:
if you were offered 2 pieces of Hamada pottery, both of equal quality, equally appealing to the eye and to the aesthetic  taste of today's market but one was made solely by the man himself whereas the other was produced with the help of his team of assistants
Which one would you choose? and would you be willing to pay extra for 100% Hamada?

I think you would buy what you could afford. If you can afford the 100% Hamada then you'd buy it in preference to the assistants' piece.