Susie Cooper

During her 65-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. Susie 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 charts her progress creating patterns for Gray's Pottery in the 1920s, running her own Susie Cooper Productions in the 1930s to 1950s, and designing for Wedgwood in the 1960s to 1980s.