What's the story?
I want to share my love of Sherwood Pottery and Titian Studio pottery with you. It is a culturally significant but forgotten fragment of New Zealand's ceramic history from 1949 - 1969.
Titian Studio WareEveryone has a story about how their collections started. My Titian Studio story began when hubby and I were on holiday in Nelson, New Zealand. Here's the link to my first post.
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Recipe book given to Cameron Brown in 1948
On
Cameron Brown’s twenty-sixth birthday, his grandfather William gifted his
grandson the nineteenth-century pottery recipe he’d found in a second-hand book
shop and used in his days whilst working at Stoke-on-Trent in England. No doubt this
beautifully handwritten book filled with carefully crafted ‘recipes’ ignited his love of clay and glazes from his childhood at McSkimmings in Dunedin.
Early 1950s - Cameron Brown with older brothers Neil and Jack. Sitting behind is Cam Jnr and Jack's daughter Vivien.
Photo courtesy of Cam Brown Jnr.
Around 1949 Cameron and wife Dorothy and their little boy, Cam Jnr moved a couple of old army huts from Waitakere Brick
Works to Bethells Road, Waitakere in Auckland, New Zealand. Using second-hand
bricks, Cameron built a small oil kiln, and the Sherwood Pottery story
began.
Waitakere
was one of the happiest times for the family. All the pieces were modelled by
Cameron and decorated by Dorothy. Cam Jnr told me, “They [his parents] were
visionaries in their own right,” and I absolutely agree.
Sherwood Pottery - The Fortune TellerThey were in full production by 1950 with
Cameron designing slip cast plaster moulds and making up his own clay slip recipes.
After the pieces’ first firing, Dorothy would fettle them before their second firing. They would then be hand painted and airbrushed in
various colourful glazes before their final firing.
Photo - Louise de Varga
With Cameron’s imagination and mould-making
abilities and Dorothy’s decorating skills, they began producing outstanding
pieces unrivalled in their day. They only sold their pieces to wholesalers and retailers.
They made hundreds of different shapes, but not many of each as Cameron would produce half a dozen casts of a new design and he’d become, ‘sick of
it’. He’d begin designing and modelling the next piece before the first had
even properly hit the market. Seventy years on, Sherwood Pottery pieces are sought after and
highly prized by collectors.
In about 1953/1954 the Browns changed the company name from Sherwood Pottery to Titian Studio whilst still producing at Waitakere. With production increasing the Browns moved to Henderson in 1957 and took on staff. They moved again to Takanini in 1965. To fund the purchasing of equipment and expansion into new premises at Takanini the Browns were encouraged to form a limited liability company - Titian Potteries (1965) Ltd and to list on the share market. With the huge increase in production, they became a threat to Crown Lynn which began buying up shares. In 1969 Crown Lynn became the majority shareholder and Titian Studio disappeared from New Zealand's ceramic history.
Photo Louise de Varga
Because Titian had such a strong market name Crown Lynn set up a brand names - Titianware and Titian Kitchenware. Please remember neither of these brand names are connected to the original Titian Studio Pottery! In 1971 the Browns left Crown Lynn (they were only there two years) and set up Orzel Industries in 1971. I hope you enjoy reading through my blog posts. I enjoy writing them and sharing my knowledge.
Happy days,
Louise
Special thanks to
Philip Moll for photographing my pieces.
Websites I've found helpful
Val Monk's blog - New Zealand Pottery and Crown Lynn with Valerie
New Zealand Pottery website
Titian Studio Pottery New Zealand
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Now I want to collect more, They are very exquisite
ReplyDeleteThe pansy wall vases come in such a variety of colours you can't but fall in love with them.
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