A rare set of 1920s Grays pottery storage jars designed by Susie Cooper. Each piece is hand painted with concentric bands of various shades of mint green, along with a simple thin black band that ties in nicely with the wonderfully graphic typography on each item: "Sultanas" "Flour" "Fat" "Rice" and "Currants". The Fat dish would have been used to store dripping collected from the Sunday roast, yet it could now be used as a butter dish.

The underside of each piece is stamped "Hand painted Gray's Pottery made in Stoke On Trent England".  There is some damage and some staining to the Fat dish, yet we can forgive this, as these pieces are such rarities - and we have reflected this in the price.  Please read the detailed condition report below and see images. 

History

Susie Cooper (1902 – 95) was at the forefront of British Industrial Ceramics for over sixty years, and is now recognised as one of the most important and influential ceramic designers of her generation. Cooper went straight from art school in Burslem Stoke-on-Trent to Gray's Pottery and worked there from 1922 to 1929, initially as a painter before transitioning to designing patterns. Her time there was marked by her talent and contribution to the company's success.

She then went on to revolutionise tableware in the 1930s, establishing her own business, Susie Cooper Pottery, which produced elegantly designed, functional and cost-conscious earthenwares. Cooper took her cues from the current trend for modernism. Friend and architect Serge Chermayeff - co-designer of the 1935 modernist De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill - was one such influence. The emphasis was on functionalism, the dynamic relationship between form and colour, and the restraint that should be practiced with regard to decoration. Few of the Staffordshire potteries found favour with this new approach, and Susie Cooper was the exception. Her early works for Gray's Pottery, such as this storage jar set, are rare and now much sort after by collectors.

Material: glazed earthenware

Manufacturer: Gray's Pottery, Stoke On Trent, UK

Year of manufacture: c.1928

Dimensions storage jars: Diameter 9.5cm / Height 12cm 

Dimensions fat jar: Diameter 14.5cm / Height 10cm 

Condition: the storage jars and flour shaker are all good; the fat dish has damage where a chip has been stuck back on, along with crazing and staining - see images.