Jessie Higginson

I bought these two vases from Oxford Gallery in 2000.  They are by Jessie Higginson who designed ceramics in the period from 1996-2003. Since then I think she has gone on to become a freelance designer focused on surface prints.  The tallest is 12.5 inches in height.

'Design'....Now there's the rub! Did she make them herself.or did she 'Design' them for others to make? As far as Studio Pottery is concerned,there is a very Real difference. Generally Studio pottery is made by individuals or small groups of potters working as a team. eg Leach St Ives,Aldermaston pottery under Alan Caiger Smith. But the word 'Design' is almost totally open-ended. Might have been a limited edition of 10,or a mass market piece of thousands.

They don't look thrown, so I suspect 'design' is simply used as an alternative word. Better, maybe, than calling it handbuilt or slip moulded :) Still Studio Pottery, though, imo.

According to her website she says for this period she was: "self-employed as a designer-maker, running a small batch production ceramics business making slip-cast porcelain"