Charlotte Rhead

Charlotte Rhead is generally regarded as one of the 3 great lady Art Designers of the twentieth century along with both Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff. Though artistically self-taught, she went on to attend the Fenton Art School in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire going on to uphold a number of posts at various potteries working as an enameller and tube-liner. Tube-lining is a decorative pottery technique in which the clay is piped via a rubber bag, through a glass nozzle on to the pottery surface. This method of decoration was later to become the trademark of Charlotte Rhead. Along with her siste,r Charlotte then joined the recently founded family business. Things sadly did not work out for the family so along with her father, Frederick Rhead (as Art Director) they moved to Wood & Sons in 1913.

Charlotte’s tube-lining skills came to the fore after another move to Burgess & Leigh which was followed by another in 1931 to A.G. Richardson. More new designs were realised on a return to Woods in 1942 until the untimely death of Charlotte in 1947.

Charlotte Rhead’s designs were produced effectively through to nineteen sixty with her work being highly admired and sought after today. Some designs by Charlotte include Florentine and Sylvan for Burgess & Leigh, and Persian Rose and Byzantine for A.G. Richardson.