WV.104 - Swoose Wall Vase

So what exactly is a Swoose?

Prototype Swoose - from the collection of Jack* & Rose Brown

The yellow Swoose Wall Vase is heavy and chunky indicating the slip was left in the mould for longer than necessary. Also, the glaze is excessively thick. The reverse has three raised firing feet and a keyhole hanging hole, the same as the Sherwood Gainsborough Blue Boy and Pinkie Wall Vase. Here's the link to the Sherwood blog showing the wall vase.

Dave Jenkin and Cameron Brown were both dying of cancer. At one of Dave’s last visits to his friend, they chuckled whilst reminiscing over their long friendship and their time in the pottery industry. Cam Jnr quietly listened to their great memories. Both men died in 2002, only a few weeks apart.

They had worked at Crown Lynn together in 1948/49 and became great friends. Dave was Crown Lynn’s chief design artist. He designed some very well known pieces including Crown Lynn's earthenware 'Expo '70 Legend of Maui, Sushi Platter'. He did some modelling in his spare time for Cameron when Sherwood Pottery/Titian Studio was in its infancy.

CORRECTION: It was Mark Cleverley who designed the Exp '70 Legend of Maui platter not Dave Jenkin. Mark let Val Monk know after her first book Crown Lynn, A New Zealand Icon was published. This error has been corrected in the reprint of Val's book which is currently with the publishers.

L - Original Yellow Swoose Wall Vase / R - Titian Studio WV.104 Swoose Wall Vase

The Swoose Wall Vase was modelled by Dave from Cameron's design. The name is simply an amalgamation of swan and goose. Dave designed the mould at home, for obvious reasons. It proved to be a huge success and became a massive seller for Titian Studio, with the airbrushed glazes, lustres, and some examples with beaks and eyes hand painted in gold.

 WV.104 Swoose Wall Vases - Lustre with gold painted eye

It sold so well that it wasn’t long before the Swoose came to the attention of Tom Clark, owner of Crown Lynn. Dave was summoned into his boss' office, and on the desk was a particularly striking example of a Swoose. Dave’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he nervously wondered what Tom was going to say, half expecting to be told to pack up his things for collaborating with a competitor. 

 The lustre Titian version on the left is marked WV.104, the brown example has no markings other than the three firing feet.

Tom Clark picked up the Swoose and asked his chief design artist why they weren’t making exciting products like it. He'd seen the wall vase become a big seller for Titian Studio and was disappointed his team weren’t producing something similar. 

WV.104 Swoose Wall Vases

The original Swoose on the left is bigger, heavier and has three firing feet, whereas the later Titian Studio version is smaller, has the foot ring and is marked 'WV.104 Titian Studio' on the back. 

*John ‘Jack’ Brown was Cameron's eldest brother. He never worked at Titian Studio instead staying on as operations manager at Crown Lynn ensuring the machines were working efficiently and at capacity, until he died in the 1970s. However, he was keenly interested in what Cameron and Neil were working on. He did make a couple of items with different clay-slip recipes he’d created at home, from Titian moulds. I've written about my personal connection with the Brown family in my first blog. Read it here.

 

Swoose Cream Jug - terracotta slip / Footed Trinket Box - bone china

Of all the pieces made by the Browns I think the Swoose is one of the most original. Check out the Swoose creamer jugs which I've included in me blog - J is for Jug (Just not Plain or Ordinary Jugs)

Happy days,

Louise

©Louise de Varga 2022 - Content and pictures in this blog 

J.104 - Titian Swoose Creamer Jugs