In the world of Art Deco, few names carry as much weight as Clarice Cliff. Her vibrant 'Bizarre', 'Crocus' and 'Fantasque' ranges transformed British homes in the 1920s and 30s, bringing cubist shapes and bold, sunshine colours to the everyday tea table.
But at Hepburn & Hughes, our Clarice Cliff collection isn't just inspired by her work — it is literally made from it.
From Factory Girl to Art Deco Icon
Born in 1899 in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Clarice Cliff was the fourth of seven children in a working-class family. At 13, she left school to work as a gilder, painting gold lines onto traditional pottery for a few shillings a week. She was never going to stay in one lane. Teaching herself every skill the potteries had to offer — modelling, enamelling, freehand painting — and studying at the Burslem School of Art in the evenings, she caught the attention of factory owner Colley Shorter, who gave her a studio at the adjoining Newport Pottery in 1927.
What happened next was almost accidental. Given a stock of old, defective ceramics that couldn't be sold, Cliff began covering their imperfections with bold, freehand geometric patterns in vivid on-glaze enamels. She called the style "Bizarre." It sold out immediately.
Within two years, she was overseeing a team of nearly 70 painters — almost all young women, known as the "Bizarre Girls" — and the entire Newport Pottery, all 1,000 workers, had been given over to producing her designs. By 1930, she was appointed Art Director, one of the first women to hold such a position at a major British manufacturer. Her pottery was selling across Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States — bold, joyful and utterly modern at a time when the world badly needed all three.
A Chance Encounter at Newport Pottery
Every morning in the 1930s, a local worker walked her daily commute past the Newport Pottery gates. She began collecting the small, discarded fragments of brightly painted ceramics she found on the ground — broken pieces of the very Bizarre, Crocus and Fantasque ware making Clarice Cliff an international name. These shards stayed in her family for decades before being passed to a relative, who eventually entrusted them to us.
Clarice Cliff pendants, with fragments found at the Newport Pottery
|in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1930s.
Wearable History, Set in Sterling Silver
Rather than leave these fragments hidden in a box, we set each one carefully into hallmarked 925 sterling silver, staying as true as possible to the found shape of the pottery. Every piece — pendant, ring, earring or cufflink — is a genuine 1930s artefact and one-of-a-kind. No two shards break the same way.
Each piece is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity detailing its provenance.
Quick Facts
- Era: Original 1930s Art Deco
- Origin: Newport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent, UK
- Materials: Authentic earthenware ceramic shards set in hallmarked 925 sterling silver
- Sustainability: 100% upcycled — repurposing damaged historical artefacts into wearable art
Ready to find your piece of the Potteries? Explore our full Clarice Cliff Collection here.