Pioneering Potter Remembered

New Zealand-born decorative ceramicist Kenneth Clark, who has died aged 89, was to tiles what James Dyson is to vacuum cleaners, Sarah Hosking writes for the Guardian. “He took a domestic product that had become boring in its ubiquity and transformed it with technical knowledge and design flair into a vehicle of delight and usefulness. His designs honoured the traditions of studio pottery while incorporating the technical innovations of commercial potteries; St Ives purity combined with Stoke-on-Trent practicality. The existence of today’s tile warehouses with mammoth ranges of ceramic floor and wall tiles is largely due to his pioneering work over 60 years. Clark came to Britain from New Zealand while serving in the Royal Navy (he was present throughout the D-day landings). In the 1950s he founded Kenneth Clark Ceramics in London (moving to Lewes in East Sussex in 1989), which remained in business for more than 50 years. Many of its tiles are now collectors’ items. He wrote four books: two early paperbacks on pottery, then The Potters’ Manual in 1983, and his finest, The Tile: Making, Designing and Using, in 2002.”

Kenneth Clark: July 31 1922 – June 10 2012