Susie Cooper
Susie Cooper (1902-1995) was one of Britain's most distinguished and innovative ceramic designers, and the most important pottery designer of the 20th century. She founded the Susie Cooper Pottery in 1929. Few British ceramic designers in the 20th century were also factory owners and managers and this gave her a great advantage. She was able to determine her own design strategy and be more ambitious in her designs. She was one of a small group of ceramic designers and manufacturers who believed in Modern design. Susie Cooper's distinctive style combined modernist influenced, functional and streamlined shapes with simple, restrained patterning representing the best of the English tradition. It was widely admired by contemporary critics, copied by rivals, and purchased worldwide. In 1966 she became a member of the Wedgwood Group, England's most prestigious pottery manufacturer. Her designs during this period proved to be remarkably commercially successful but, like many creative people, she was never completely comfortable in a corporate environment.
