The Icon Collection

You can never have too many flowers. The question is how big can the vase be? Big Vase starts life as a solid block of plaster that is hand carved by hammer and chisel into the shape of the vase. A three-part hollow mould is created from the carved plaster form allowing multiple vases to be slip-cast in fine bone…

Boned in England was a collection of repeat fine bone china lights hand crafted in the North Staffordshire Potteries. Multiples of bisque and rumbled single white vessels contain diffused illumination creating a topography of light, emphasising the importance of British industry’s progression and future.

Cast Bowl is conceived as a quiet landscape in ceramic. Glazed in the palest of hues, the play of light and shadow generates endless small shifts of tone across its contours. The piece draws on a particular set of architectural preoccupations – with proportion, line, volume and the precise way in which mass engages with an underlying surface – combining…

This hand painted jug takes five arduos hours to paint and forms part of our Icon Collection. Painted by Emma Bailey who used to work at Wedgwood hand decorating Clarice Cliff, this is again testament to the skill that resides in Stoke-on-Trent. Festival Jug involves generous and curvaceous forms paired with exaggerated ratios delivered via handles and spouts. The shapes…

Acclaimed conceptual artist Bruce McLean debuts a vast new body of work titled Garden Ware that was recently on exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The collection includes one-off earthenware creations by McLean, including vases, bowls, platters as well as tableware. As part of the Icon Collection one vessel form has been reproduced to create a series…

ME WANT NOW is a body of work by Barnaby Barford that compels the viewer to question their relationships and the world around them. Large scale energetic Word Drawings, offer a departure from the meticulous planning, order and structure of Barford’s sculptural works. These Word Drawings embody the chaotic immediacy and almost forceful nature of the ‘me first’ mentality and…

The concept for this collaboration with Snarkitecture was to reveal aspects of the technical process used to create fine bone china. While Positive reflects the simple geometry of a cylindrical vase, Negative brings to life the mould that is used in the creation of the first piece. Normally unseen, the box-like volume is impressed with exactly one half of its…

Stack begins a partnership between Paul Smith + 1882 Ltd. and forms part of an on-going relationship. Each piece in the Stack Collection is unique making each Stack a work of art. Stack is a special series of vessels – appearing as a stack of plates, yet functioning as a vase, with each ‘plate’ hand glazed in colours inspired by…

Barnaby Barford’s latest body of work ‘MORE MORE MORE’ presents the culmination of the artist’s investigation into society’s incessant need for more and the detrimental effect it has on us as individuals, as a community, and on the planet. ‘MORE MORE MORE’ continues Barford’s exploration of the politics of happiness but with a new source of inspiration: the Apple –…

The Tower of Babel is composed of 3,000 individual bone china buildings, each measuring 10-13cm tall and depicting a real London shop. Barford has photographed over 6,000 shop fronts in the process of making the Tower, cycling over 1,000 miles to visit every postcode in London. The photographs were created as ceramic transfers and fired onto fine bone china to…

Industry meets the studio maker head-on in this collaborative project between ceramicist Amy Jayne Hughes, the V&A and 1882 Ltd. Aiming to restore the humble vase to its former status as the Ultimate Accessory, the collection elevates the functional object to a design motif and a symbol of the ancient world… Amy Jayne Hughes was the V&A Ceramics Resident from…