Susie Cooper

Book excerpt: During her sixty-five-year career, Susie Cooper introduced more than 4,500 ceramic patterns and shapes, making her one of the most prolific, versatile and influential designers the industry has ever seen. Between the 1920s and 1980s she moved from the bold hand-painting of the 'Jazz Age' through delicate wash banding and aerograph techniques to sophisticated lithographic transfer printing on both earthenware and bone china. Cooper not only led the charge of gifted female designers in the male-dominated Potteries but also pioneered the role of women in factory management. Alan Marshall here charts her progress from the creation of patterns for Gray's Pottery in the 1920s, to running her own Susie Cooper Productions from the 1930s to the 1950s, and designing for Wedgwood from the 1960s to the 1980s.