William John Clappison (27 June 1937 – 21 February 2013) was an English

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. Although Clappison is not as familiar as many of his British contemporaries (his name not appearing on individual pieces), his work sold in the millions. Initially working out of the Hornsea Studio, partly financed by his father, Clappison would later work for Ravenhead Glass and

Royal Doulton Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...

. Some of his more popular designs included the Heirloom range for

Hornsea Pottery Hornsea Pottery was a business located in the coastal town of Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They specialized in tableware with elegant contemporary designs. The pottery was founded in 1949, in a small terraced house, by b ...

, his Studiocraft vases and his plain white Aphrodite vase, which became a popular wedding present of its time.

History

Clappison was born in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

, England, to Caeser 'Philip' and Enith Clappison. When the family moved to

Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 186 ...

and Philip Clappison, John's father, started to support

, and the founders of the Pottery, Colin and Desmond Rawson, saw great potential in John Clappison. He designed pieces such as Elegance and Tricorn for Hornsea Pottery whilst attending the Hull College of Arts and Crafts. The Pottery then sponsored his year at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in London where he specialised in Industrial Design and Ceramics. After gaining the Faculty of Design Certificate in Ceramics at the Royal College of Art, Clappison was appointed as Hornsea Pottery's Chief Designer in 1958. A studio was specially built on the Pottery site where he originated a whole range of designs for tablewares, novelties and gift wares. Clappison produced many designs for Hornsea Pottery such as his 'Home Decor' range, which are "highly reminiscent of the most advanced work in Studio Ceramics". Other tableware and decorative items that reflected contemporary designs were the 1950s hand-decorated

Slipware Slipware is pottery identified by its primary decorating process where slip is placed onto the leather-hard (semi-hardened) clay body surface before firing by dipping, painting or splashing. Slip is an aqueous suspension of a clay body, whi ...

, 1960s Studio vases, 1970s Muramics and mugs, and 1980s People Figures.(Hornsea Pottery Collectors and Research Society) Many of these items are actively collected. In 1972, Clappison left Hornsea Pottery and became chief designer for Ravenhead Glass in Lancashire. He rejoined Hornsea in 1976, and when it went into receivership in 1984, he became head shape designer at

. He retired in 1998. Clappison's designs were described as "in a completely new idiom.... they presaged trends which would be consolidated during the early 1960s". His designs were thought to have been a determining factor in the success of Hornsea Pottery, "it was only at the end of the 1950s, following the appointment of William John Clappison as chief designer in 1958 that Hornsea became a major force in modern design". A biography on John Clappison, by Pauline Coyle, was published in April 2007. This official biography includes the full scope and variety of Clappison's work, and was written with his knowledge and co-operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clappison, William John 1937 births Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Kingston upon Hull 2013 deaths English potters