Portmeirion Pottery

The pottery started in principle when Susan Williams-Ellis, daughter of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (creator of the Portmeirion Village of 'The Prisoner' fame) and her husband Euan Cooper-Willis took over Gray's Pottery in 1960 and Kirkham's Pottery a year later – renamed and marketed as The Portmeirion Potteries Ltd in 1962. It was during this period of the 1960s that some of Susan Williams-Ellis’ most famous shapes and designs were created. Portmeirion are still in production today.

Very like 'Totem' but not exactly - any ideas? There's a stamp but it's very faint & completely illegible.

'Gold Sun'



It's a storage jar! It doesn't seem to be a very common pattern and it reminds me of Piero Fornasetti. This is the first storage jar that i've seen like this, although i have seen a pair of Dolphin shakers almost in the same shape. Has anyone else had this pattern or this shape before?

You still see them around Sue - I think I've got one somewhere.

Anyway, here is an unusual 'Talisman' lidded jar - the shape is one I've not seen in a jar from Portmeirion before and secondly the screenprinted pattern only has one colour. Normally this black design is printed over two colours (see my other 'Talisman' items at the beginning of this thread). Does anyone know why this one is different?

*click to enlarge*

Hello,

I'm looking for more information about the Starfire series 2001-2003. I did a quick search and came up with the Portmeirion site and the usual "china replacements". Can anyone provide additional info about this series (design, techniques, colours) and maybe some of your own experience with this line?

Thanks,

Peter

Hello all.

I live in Sweden and I have, without knowing it, owned two
portmeirion tea cups with saucers for a few years and they have always been my
favourites! I bought them for on a flea market in Sweden.

Recently,
I dropped one of the cups on the floor and only after that did I look
for the brand and tried to learn more about the cups to find a new one.
I have been looking on Ebay.co.uk and on the official Portmeirion
homepage, but I haven't been able to find any information about the
motif of my cups anywhere.

I'm now very curious about what the motif might be called
and when it was sold or manufactured.

Portmeirion is quite unknown in Sweden so it's only now looking online, that i realise that it's a whole world of
cups and motifs...

Thankful for any answers! :)

This is the cup:

Botanic garden was created in 1972, new table ware designs included welsh dresser and blue harvest in 1992 and 1995 respectively, designed by Angharad Menna, china was introduced in 1994 ,when a range of new patterns were launched ,welsh wild flowers, summer garland, ladies flower gardenand ancestral jewel, sorry but i don't know if yours is one of these patterns , Ed

Yellow/lime green 1965 'Greek Key' lidded vegetable tureen.

bought today, but i can't find any other examples of them online. the sailing ships pattern is about, but i've only seen pieces on a blue background. the other one, a man carrying a fishing rod and basket along a riverbank is a mystery

Could it perhaps be from the "Sporting Scenes" range from wood engravings by Thomas Bewick (1752-1828)?

Jug (height 12.5 cm), Sporting scenes, 4134

I bought this today. Is the pattern called Grapes? I can only find it online in "Parian", and is this backstamp one of the earlier ones? Any info would be gratefully received

Tigerchips Meowseum wrote:'Gold Sun'



It's a storage jar! It doesn't seem to be a very common pattern and it reminds me of Piero Fornasetti. This is the first storage jar that i've seen like this, although i have seen a pair of Dolphin shakers almost in the same shape. Has anyone else had this pattern or this shape before?

This is the design known as 'Gold Sun', in the early days it was hand-painted and guilded using the Gray's hand-painting techniques but this is the later (and less expensive) transfer print. In any case this is a rare design and even the example of the Coffee Pot Portmeirion have in their archive has a damaged spout (Mine is in perfect condition but I don't like to boast.)

Your jar is one of the shapes inherited by Susan from Kirkham's medical ranges but the early Portmeirion designs were influenced by these and the 'nipples' on the tops of cylindrical items appeared into the Botanic range, the last remnant being the salt and pepper pots which were discontinued in the 2000s.

I've set up a Flickr group for posting pictures of Portmeirion Pottery and i encourage you to add images there too.

Deecee wrote:I bought this today. Is the pattern called Grapes? I can only find it online in "Parian", and is this backstamp one of the earlier ones? Any info would be gratefully received

The Parian range uses Victorian jug patterns inherited from Kirkham's. Portmeirion continued to produce the original Kirkham's jugs (and chickens) in the 1960s, tried re-launching them with white and coloured glazes in the mid 1970s (Yours in the 70s version in Rockingham Brown) - British Heritage was the early 1980s version (with a backstamp that could be removed by unscrupulous antiques dealers), Parian had an de-bossed stamp that could not be removed.

You should buy my book!

Stephen Mckay

Jakjo wrote:Could it perhaps be from the "Sporting Scenes" range from wood engravings by Thomas Bewick (1752-1828)?

'Sailing Ships' and 'Country Life' both originally Grays Pottery motifs are more common on white backgrounds.

Pip wrote:You still see them around Sue - I think I've got one somewhere.

Anyway, here is an unusual 'Talisman' lidded jar - the shape is one I've not seen in a jar from Portmeirion before and secondly the screenprinted pattern only has one colour. Normally this black design is printed over two colours (see my other 'Talisman' items at the beginning of this thread). Does anyone know why this one is different?

*click to enlarge*

This is a nice, unusual piece, it dates from the very early period then the colours of Talisman were added by hand painting - they were later incorporated into a colour lithographic transfer.

Any hand painting, even if it was just adding a band of colour would let Portmeirion use 'Hand Painted' in the promotional description.

The shape is again one of those useful Kirkham's medical containers - I have two examples decorated in Malachite - they are a rare shape.

Please add images to my Flickr Portmeirion Pottery group

thanks

Stephen Mckay

Fennek wrote:I think it's the Cypher design...

Yes it is Cypher - a version of Totem originally made at the request of a German company.
Not one of Susan's favourite designs.

ebbalovisa wrote:Hello all.

I live in Sweden and I have, without knowing it, owned two
portmeirion tea cups with saucers for a few years and they have always been my
favourites! I bought them for on a flea market in Sweden.

Recently,
I dropped one of the cups on the floor and only after that did I look
for the brand and tried to learn more about the cups to find a new one.
I have been looking on Ebay.co.uk and on the official Portmeirion
homepage, but I haven't been able to find any information about the
motif of my cups anywhere.

I'm now very curious about what the motif might be called
and when it was sold or manufactured.

Portmeirion is quite unknown in Sweden so it's only now looking online, that i realise that it's a whole world of
cups and motifs...

Thankful for any answers! :)

This is the cup:

What you have is a mid 1970's "Open Stock" Giant Cup and Saucer. These were mass-produced decorative items using Portmeirion's shapes but decorated with inexpensive lithographic transfers which were available to any pottery - hence the term 'open stock'. Hundreds of different patterns were bought-in by Portmeirion so finding a match for yours will be near-impossible but finding a similar cup is very easy as they regularly turn up on e-Bay. As well as giant Cups, Portmeirion were making up to 5000 Chamber Pots in various sizes with the same floral transfers many of which went to Sweden for use a planters, ice buckets and punch bowls & cups.

PeterC wrote:Hello,

I'm looking for more information about the Starfire series 2001-2003. I did a quick search and came up with the Portmeirion site and the usual "china replacements". Can anyone provide additional info about this series (design, techniques, colours) and maybe some of your own experience with this line?

Thanks,

Peter

Starfire was a 'Living Glaze' available in three colourways, green red and blue. The Portmeirion China kilns were dismantled to make way for the new range but Starfire never took off. Their were technical problems with the red so it only ever appeared a Seconds items and there was consistency issues with the other colours. The decorative items are very attractive but the rough texture of the tableware made them unpleasant to use and easily marked.

Susan Williams-Ellis had very little, if any involvement with the development of Starfire.

http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/817a.htm