This comprehensive work covers the history of the Denby Pottery and its products from 1809, when it was founded, to the present day. It relates the development of the factory, tells the stories of the families who have been associated with it and describes the work of the designers.
Denby's designers included the skilled, slightly eccentric Horace Elliott; sculptor Donald Gilbert; and avant garde potter from the Vienna Werkstadt, Alice Teichtner; distinguished industrial designer, Kenneth Clark; the multi-talented Tibor Reich; and Gill Pemberton who created a new look in 1960s tableware. The principal in-house designers, Glyn Colledge and his father Albert, played a significant part in creating the 'Denby look' and the book describes in detail the importance of Glyn's creative and artistic contribution. The company's policy of employing the best designers and craftspeople has ensured its success for nearly two centuries, a success which looks set for the future.
The book explores the design explosions of the art deco era and the post-war release of energy and creativity in the 1950s and 1960s. By recording the development of decorative tableware it reflects the efforts of a pottery company striving and succeeding in adapting to a less formal life-style. Denby's designers continued to produce work in the contemporary style during the sixties and into the seventies and this has been matched by the excellent work of the current team whose designs for the nineties have created a unique Denby style.