In amongst the items across the site and that come and go through our hands, are many, many items of ceramics. The specialism is in French artist designed ceramics of the 1950's but if a piece is a good enough design or has "something about it" then it will make the grade. What is curious is how different European countries approached the medium around this time, of c.1948-68. As a very broad overview, the key nations could be considered to be France, Germany, the UK, Scandinavia and Italy. The colourful handpainted artistic wares of France and Italy (Vallauris, San Marino, Turin) are in contrast to the cool an subdued tones of much Scandinavian pottery. A glaring exception is probably Stig Lindberg whose designs perhaps have more in common with his Southern European counterparts. Often produced in moulded series, much Scandinavian pottery relied on the multiple variations and nuances in glazes to create the effects. German pottery was again produced in large quantities, rather more cheaply than in Scandinavia but with the textured and three-dimensional glazes seen in Vallauris pottery, especially the so called "fat lava" technique. The UK plowed it's own furrow, with a few exceptions not really paying to much attention to the avant-garde, and producing slightly watered down versions of the continental styles. Ceramics (studio pottery excepted) were still more frequently seen as functional and not artistic in their own right - interesting work was always being done at Poole of course, but this was the exception rather than the rule. Perhaps national characteristics at this time on a small scale could be seen expressed through the medium of clay?
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