The Midwinter pottery in Staffordshire was one of the first in the 1950s to embrace modern design and was in the vanguard of stylish tableware until the factory closed in the 1980s.
Roy Midwinter, the style director, introduced the ‘stylecraft’ shape in 1953 and was considered to have made a breakthrough in traditional British ceramics design. His ‘Fashion’ shape in 1953 was even more adventurous and surface decoration was subsequently executed by such designers as Terence Conran, Jessie Tait and Hugh Casson.
Midwinter is now feverishly collected and more than 200 pieces will be on sale at the gallery (which is very near Sadlers Wells), priced from £25 up to £1000 for a coffee set, although there is a wide choice in the lower ranges.
The new edition of the book ‘Midwinter Pottery: a revolution in British tableware’, which is published by Richard Dennis, costs £25 hardback, £18 paperback and is available throughout the exhibition.
Midsummer Midwinter
ISLINGTON dealers Gary Grant Choice Pieces, specialists in mid-20th century design, particularly textiles, ceramics and glass, host the launch of a new, extended and revised edition of Steven Jenkins’s definitive book on Midwinter pottery this month at their gallery at 18 Arlington Way, London EC1 and from July 25 to August 16 celebrate the launch with a selling exhibition of Midwinter.
