|
Jack
&
Wally Cole circa
1948
IN
1947 two brothers John (Jack) & Walter (Wally) Cole purchased
the Pottery &
re named it the Rye Potteries (later Rye
Pottery). Both experienced studio potters who had exhibited in pre- war
London, John was Headmaster at Beckenham Art School while
Wally was teaching part time
at the Central School as well
as working for The Design Council on The Britain Can
Make It Exhibition at the V & A( the forerunner
of the 1951 Festival of Britain). The Coles introduced a completely different style
to Rye,
Traditional Rye
jug with coloured slip decoration
|
Jack
Cole with kiln of ware! 1949
although several of the traditional Rye shapes were still
made such as the
Sussex Pig, small jugs and mugs-these
pieces
due to Wally Cole having been able to coax
Bert Twort- the pre war thrower- back to work to
help train the
young apprentices.
The
old 30’s lead glazes were now illegal and post war Britain
was desperate for colour
after years of austerity
so they devised a
number of patterns dependent on different coloured slip
to get round the very tight
manufacturing restrictions in place for the
first 10 years. while the very limited amount of decorative glazed pottery they
were allowed to produce was
decorated in the
17th c Lambeth Delft
style- a white glaze
decorated with freehand brush work.
|
