Innovative designer who created bestselling ranges for Hornsea Pottery
John Clappison, who has died aged 75, was a prolific and innovative designer who came to the forefront of British pottery after the second world war. He wanted to improve the quality of design and production for a mass market, and at Hornsea Pottery created some of the most popular ranges available in the UK from the 1950s through to the 80s.
He later commented that working in the Yorkshire coastal town of Hornsea, while the pottery industry was centred on Stoke-on-Trent, helped him develop his own unique response to contemporary design. John understood the possibilities, but more importantly the limitations, of the Hornsea company and its workforce. Handpainted decoration in the "contemporary" style of the popular Midwinter Pottery was not possible at Hornsea, as it was very costly; and the idea of using transfer-printed sheets was also ruled out as being far too expensive for such a small works. These limitations prompted John to experiment with new shapes, glaze and decorative techniques, which resulted in well-known ranges such as Summit and Home Decor, both from 1960.
John, the son of a butcher, Philip Clappison, and his wife, Enith, was born in Hull, east Yorkshire, into a family that appreciated the arts. After attending the local school, John gained a place at the High School for Arts and Crafts in Hull in 1950, soon followed by studies at the Hull Regional College of Arts and Crafts, where he gained a national diploma in design, specialising in ceramics.
The Hornsea Pottery was a relatively new business, having been established in 1949, by two brothers, Desmond and Colin Rawson. A year later their friend Philip Clappison, having sold his butcher's shop, invested in the pottery. This gave the young John the opportunity to experiment and develop his ideas in ceramics and led to successful lines including his Elegance range of vases, gift wares and dishes, launched in 1955.
As trade increased, in 1957 the Rawson brothers arranged for John to spend a year at the Royal College of Art in London, where he specialised in industrial design and ceramics. Having already gained considerable hands-on experience, he felt he learned little at the RCA and instead spent a lot of time studying the collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and visiting department stores such as Heal's. He was awarded the faculty of industrial design certificate in ceramics, but decided to return to Yorkshire, where in 1958 he was appointed chief designer for the Hornsea Pottery.
John continued to innovate throughout the 60s with different decorative techniques and, importantly, a new printing technique which screen-printed a resist medium on to the biscuit wares before glazing, so that the glaze covered the unprinted parts of the design, creating contrasting semi-matt areas. The thicker glaze created a relief effect that enhanced the design. This technique was successfully exploited by Hornsea to produce bestselling tablewares such as Heirloom, launched in 1967, and Saffron, from 1970. These new ranges were much admired in the trade press and copied by other manufacturers.
In 1972 John resigned his position at Hornsea, becoming the chief designer for Ravenhead Glass in Lancashire, where he created lines including Siesta, Solar and Topaz. His 1973 Barmasters range for licensed premises sold in the hundreds of millions.
He eventually rejoined Hornsea Pottery in 1976, soon producing the new Impact range which was accepted on to the Design Council Index, quite an achievement for a small pottery manufacturer. But Hornsea suffered in the recession of the early 1980s, and attempts to recover through changes in management and design policy failed to save the company. When Hornsea went into receivership in 1984 John found a new position as head shape designer at Royal Doulton, working for a range of factories such as Royal Albert and Minton. He retired, due to ill-health, in 1998.
I met John when he talked to collectors about his work at a ceramic study weekend in Stoke-on-Trent and later consulted him for my book Twentieth Century Ceramic Designers in Britain (2001).
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, whom he married in 1966, and their sons, Mark and Jonathan.
• William John Clappison, industrial designer, born 27 June 1937; died 21 February 2013