Hornsea Pottery – Nostalgia Central

Hornsea Pottery in the East Riding of Yorkshire was one of the most famous brands of British ceramics in the mid-to-late 20th century. Her innovative pottery designs, decorated with graphic patterns, became tableware staples of the time.

Brothers Colin and Desmond Rawson founded the company in 1949, manufacturing plaster of Paris souvenirs from home.

They moved to clay when their friend Philip Clappison invested money to buy a kiln. After their initial success, the brothers moved to larger premises in the Old Hall on Hornsea Market Place.

A dose of youthful ideas came via Philip Clappison’s son, John, who was studying at Hull Regional College of Art, where he gained a National Diploma in Design, specializing in ceramics. Working at Hornsey allowed him to develop his ideas in decorative and glazing techniques.

His first initiative was the successful “Elegance” collection in 1955, which had organic, contemporary forms and included vases, pitcher sets, bowls and butter dishes. Its black and white glazed exterior with brightly colored interior was very popular with younger housewives.

Similar ranges followed as John conducted further experiments. The “Tricorn” was a set of small cutlery featuring a tricorn body shape. It is decorated with a blue and white glass design, topped with a stylized star shape.

Another popular collection – now highly sought after by collectors – is ‘Home Décor’, inspired by Scandinavian design.

The company moved to a new factory site in Edenfield in 1954, on the site of the Hornsea Brick & Tile Works. Now the company had the opportunity to expand its product range, hiring more designers, including Alan Lachman, George Ratcliffe, and Dorothy Marion Campbell, whose creations included African figures, modern vases, dogs, giraffes, and cats.

Hornsey also produced a range of ‘animal’ vases between 1954 and 1967 – gentle woodland animals placed on tree trunks and trunks (pictured) – until the pottery decided to focus on large-scale tableware production.

Hornsey opened its factory to the public in 1954, creating a much-loved visitor attraction. They discovered that visitors loved seeing how pottery was made and began offering factory tours.

The site has become one of the area’s major tourist attractions, featuring a lake and picnic areas, a model village, an adventure playground, go-karts, radio-controlled cars and boats, cafes, horse and carriage rides, an automobile museum and a small zoo.

The ‘seconds’ store – which sold Hornsey goods at discounted prices – was one of the first American-style factory outlets in the UK. At its peak, there were more than 350,000 visits per year.

In 1967, Hornsey began producing a full range of modern tableware lines, including Heirloom, Bronte and Saffron. They all used a resist technique invented by Clapison to prevent the glaze from sticking to the screen-printed designs.

By 1974, Edenfield employed 250 employees and produced more than three million parts annually. It was inevitably necessary to expand again, but the company faced objections from the local government.

Eventually, the company opened its second headquarters in Lancaster on the other side of England.

The Lancaster plant was only in operation for 12 years due to high development costs and new competition from cheap imports.

Clappison continued to innovate in the 1980s and 1990s, but the company went into receivership in 2000, and the factory was forced to close permanently.

The original 1950s vases and 1970s brown storage jars are now popular with a new generation of collectors and enthusiasts.

A museum in the town of Hornsey displays more than 2,000 original objects.