Susie Cooper studied at the Burslem School of Art, before starting work in 1922 for the pottery decorating company A E Gray & Co in Stoke-on-Trent. She began as a painter but later moved into design, establishing her own firm in 1929. Her company designed shapes manufactured by other firms which she decorated, at first by hand and, from 1933, by lithography. Her decorative patterns for tableware were all simple but effective, often drawing on flowers, fruits and feathers as well as dots and exclamation marks for inspiration. She designed tableware for Imperial Airways in the 1930s and regularly exhibited in Paris and New York. The Cooper factory closed in 1942 but she successfully restarted in 1950. In 1961 her factory merged with the Tuscan works and in 1966 became a semi-autonomous unit within Wedgwood. Her designs for Wedgwood continued in production until the 1980s. Cooper was made a Royal Designer for Industry in 1940 and was awarded the OBE in 1979 for her contribution to the maintenance of excellence in industrial ceramic design.

www.susiecooper.net

Glossary

  • Design

    The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.

  • Drawing

    The depiction of shapes and forms on a flat surface chiefly by means of lines although colour and shading may also be included. Materials most commonly used are pencil, ink, crayon, charcoal, chalk and pastel, although other materials, including paint, can be used in combination.

  • Lithography

    Lithography means, literally, stone drawing. In addition to fine grain lithographic stones, metal plates can also be used for lithography. The method relies on the fact that grease repels water. An image is drawn in a greasy medium onto the stone or plate, which is then dampened with water. Greasy printing ink rolled onto that surface will adhere to the design but be repelled by the damp area. The inked image is transferred to the paper via a press. For large editions, the grease is chemically fixed to the stone, and gum arabic, which repels any further grease marks but does not repel water, is applied to the rest of the surface. For colour lithography the artist uses a separate stone or plate for each colour required.