Briglin Pottery

by **Pip** February 8th 2008, 11:34 am

The Briglin Pottery in London was established in 1948 by Brigitte Appleby (nee Goldschmidt) and Eileen Lewenstein.

22 Crawford St wrote:Briglin Pottery [1948 - 1990]

Briglin Pottery was founded in post war London in 1948 at 66 Baker street by 22yo Brigitte Appleby, Eileen Lewenstein and Donald Mills was a thrower from 1948 to 1952. After a fire in 1952 the pottery re-located to nearby 22 Crawford Street. There was a need for domestic wares in post-war London and their pottery sold well. Eileen left in 1959 and it was Brigitte who ran Briglin Pottery for more than forty years until it finally closed in 1990.

Briglin is mostly known for it's brown earthenware wax resist domestic wares of the 1970s. At this time it was the largest maker of pottery in the West End and produced over three thousand pieces a week. Brigitte was know to Lucie Rie, who's workshop was only a kilometre to the south of Crawford St. You will see the influence of Lucie's reflected in early Briglin Pieces.

Obituary - Brigitte Appleby [1926 - 2000]
TBC

Obituary - Eileen Lewenstein [1925 - 2005]
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/30/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1

Obituary - Donald Mills
TBC

Other Potters of note:

Alan Pett, Pat Birks, Tony Barson, Fred Millett, Mike-Crosby Jones, Alin Frewin, Lyn Lovitt, with Alan Wallowrk, Rosemany Wren connected.

Location:
22 Crawford St, London

Books:
Briglin Pottery 1948-1990: The Story of a Studio Pottery in the West End of London Hardcover – 26 April 2002
by Anthea Arnold (Author)

Publisher :Briglin Books; First Edition (26 April 2002)
Hardcover :76 pages
ISBN-10 : 0954192303
ISBN-13 : 978-0954192303

by **Pip** March 24th 2009, 4:26 pm

A Briglin rabbit moneybox, circa 1960/70s

briglin - Briglin Pottery Variou18

by **Pip** March 25th 2009, 6:14 pm

Briglin Robin moneybox

briglin - Briglin Pottery Variou20

by **dantheman** April 23rd 2009, 8:18 pm

I know nothing about Briglin but I loved the look of these two goblets so I had to buy them

briglin - Briglin Pottery 100_0081

by **Pip** May 4th 2009, 1:54 pm

This is a fabulous little bowl - a really nice early example on the white clay - dating from the early 1950s (there's a photograph in the Briglin book of their London showroom in 1953 and on one of the shelves are several small bowls with the same glaze colours and incised style of decoration).

briglin - Briglin Pottery Variou29

by **hercules brabazon** September 9th 2009, 2:51 pm

19cm vase with apple core design.
briglin - Briglin Pottery 045-110

by **hercules brabazon** September 9th 2009, 2:55 pm

Pleasingly chunky furrowed pot , 11cm high.
briglin - Briglin Pottery 046-110

by **Pip** September 14th 2009, 10:32 pm

An onion shaped vase.

briglin - Briglin Pottery Img_2211

by **Pip** September 16th 2009, 3:34 pm

I think this is a bud vase however it could be a candleholder...

briglin - Briglin Pottery Img_2310

by **22 Crawford St.** December 19th 2009, 11:00 pm

Hi Pip, Hi Everyone.alex(at)briglin.com here. Thanks Pip for pointing me here - funny that I've not found this corner of the internet before as I search all the time.

I set up Briglin.com this year to promote Briglin Pottery. Briglin is great to collect. It's not an 'Art' pottery but more 'table' pottery. It comes is all shapes and sizes (but not colours!.. haha, BROWN & WHITE mostly!) from large vases to tiny animals. Brigette did not miss a trick here and sold very small items so people could always leave the shop with a purchase. I really wanted to say that I'm here to help. I don't make money from my site, I do it because I care. If any collector needs help then ask, I'll be happy to help out.

I am also on the scrounge..... I'm really looking for information about Briglin Pottery, who when where! If you have a collection you want linking etc then contact me.

From the above pictures I like them all, but hercules brabazon's little pot is strong. I like it a lot. Briglin varies, there were many potters who passed through, some started young and had to be 'trained up'. So pieces are not consistent. Some shapes are strong and clean, some are overworked and rubbish. You need to pick the good from the bad...and from the fake :(

Please be careful when buying off eBay, I am SURE that much is fake, especially the animals. I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure. I can't tell you how here. Really there is two groups of fakers; the armature and the pro, people make pieces and put them on eBay, they have little modeling skills and are copying pieces off the internet and you can see this in the finished result. Normally they are misshapen, skew eyed freaks!...lol The is a faker out there faking rare pieces, he recently put x3 of the tall black/white flower vases on eBay.... all three sold. It's sad. You might ask how I know? Well I've been collecting for years, and I keep a record of all Briglin sold on eBay. Suddenly pieces start appearing, all slightly 'wrong' - I can tell the difference as I have a lot to compare with, but I feel sorry for other who do not. Please be careful with anything on eBay...

On a brighter note, there is still a lot of Briglin out there! Go and find it, the hunt is most of the fun! I still love the rush you get when you look down and...there on the table before you is... is .. ... is it? It must be.

BR

Alex

briglin - Briglin Pottery Alex@briglin

by **Pip** December 20th 2009, 6:19 pm

Alex - we know exactly where you're coming from. We're all equally concerned about getting cast-iron attributions - especially with many of us being website owners, we're more than anxious not to perpetuate the eBay myths - i.e. that all colourful cased glass is Holmegaard, that every glass vase with a polished pontil is Whitefriars - those old chestnuts! Both mine and Nic's websites are regularly 'ransacked' by eBayers using them for information to help sell their own pieces (often wording and photographs are stolen) so we're well aware just how important it is for us to get things right.

The mushrooms are interesting though, I sold them as Briglin, because I was certain they were at the time but I can't even remember where I got them from now so can't be sure what that was based on - perhaps they were sold to me as Briglin - or more likely they just screamed Briglin to me as they seem to be doing to you. I've also never ever seen other Briglin mushrooms or even similar non-attributed mushrooms on the internet or at any fair - which could suggest that either they're not Briglin or they are and they're super rare (I hope it's the latter!)

by **big ed** December 20th 2009, 6:44 pm

Alex , I am a little confused , if you have never seen another rabbit like it , how can you compare it ,as you yourself say ,some briglin animals are rubbish , but they are just caracatures after all ,I don't see a connection with a forger selling bernard leach copies and a teenager (snotty or not) in pottery class , regarding the mushroom things , surely if you put them on your site and if it follows loads appear that would answer at least one question , the briglin stuff on ebay doesn't seem to attract any price at all at the moment ,even cheap buy it nows .

by **Pip** December 20th 2009, 6:56 pm

I have, in the past, seen Briglin sell for decent money on eBay but I tend to buy much more at real life auctions and fairs these days so I don't know what prices Briglin is fetching currently on eBay because I don't tend to watch it. I do know however that Briglin is selling for decent money from specialist websites (mine and other similar ones) and has been hotly tipped by some industry 'experts' - I think Mark Hill may have been one of those who tipped it as a future collectable in his blog, so the prices being obtained for nice pieces on the internet are healthy and rising. I don't think it's unfeasible for someone to fake Briglin and we know from our own discussions on this board that sadly there are a number of fakers and unscrupulous dealers on eBay presently.

by **big ed** December 20th 2009, 7:04 pm

I think your right about being able to fake them ,anything can be faked ,but to fake pieces that are not worth very much doesn't make any sense , briglin has been tipped for quite a while now and it's good to know that the better pieces are selling , but on ebay you can get stuff for very little money .

by **Davee** July 1st 2010, 8:28 pm

Fairly sure this is Briglin but wanted it confirmed as its unmarked.

briglin - Briglin Pottery 00110

by **Pip** July 1st 2010, 9:13 pm

Seconded. Whilst not all Briglin is marked I bet if you scrutinise around the edge of the base you'll find a vague impressed mark somewhere infilled with glaze - it's often the case I've found with these types of vases.

by **bistoboy** July 1st 2010, 9:24 pm

i'm not sure i agree. I think this is by John Virando, Richmond Hill pottery. John did work at the Briglin pottery but left to set up his own works. I think it's more in his style.

by **Pip** July 1st 2010, 9:28 pm

John Virando left Briglin to set up a pottery in Richmond Hill (not far from me) he continued making very Briglin looking pieces when he left but marked them always with a JV and sometimes JV Richmond Hill on the base but never unmarked I'm lead to believe.

We have a John Virando thread here - I'll find it for you - it would be virtually impossible to distinguish between a John Virando Briglin piece and a John Virando Richmond Hill piece by eye since there appears to be no apparent difference in style - when he left Richmond Hill and moved to Scotland (where he died) his style seemed to change quite dramatically.

So anyway, to cut a long story short - this unlikely to be a John Virando Richmond Hill piece but more likely a Briglin piece possibly made by John.

by **Pip** July 1st 2010, 9:41 pm

I can't find the John Virando info anywhere (the search facility on this board is rubbish - it's around somewhere). Anyway, here's a link showing one of John's pieces from Richmond Hill in my sold archives - I have a few more somewhere I'll try and get up here too.

http://www.pips-trip.co.uk/sold-pottery-archives/british-pottery-2/showitem-ABRIGAMUG2.aspx

by **Davee** July 1st 2010, 9:45 pm

I've scrutinised all the edges and can't find any indication of a mark Pip.

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/pp.cgi?item=1994

I'm sure its Briglin, this decor is very similar

by **Pip** July 1st 2010, 9:52 pm

The point re: the decor Dave is that John produced virtually exactly the same pieces in Richmond Hill as he did when he was at Briglin - even to the point of using the same clay. The only differences appear to be in the markings and I *think* although I can't provide proof he was obliged to mark his Richmond Hill production so that it wasn't mistaken for Briglin.

by **Pip** July 1st 2010, 10:07 pm

No difference in price but it's safe to assume that unless it has JV in black on the base then it's an unmarked Briglin.

by **philpot** November 20th 2010, 12:15 pm

And another one.

by **philpot** November 20th 2010, 4:41 pm

They did do other colours of course. Happy

by **philpot** November 20th 2010, 4:53 pm

And bigger Doh!

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