A Brief History of the Crown Lynn Ceramic Factory

 

From its 1920s origins as brick and pipe manufacturers, Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company, the company expanded into the domestic market in the 1940s under the guidence of Sir Tom Clark, great grandson of the founder, Rice Own Clark.

During WW11 only essential items were imported into NZ, encouraging rapid development of ceramics for the domestic market. utilitarian tableware became central to Crown Lynn, and the company gained a reputation for supplying sturdy and reliable products. This reputation culminated when the company was contracted to supply the New Zealand Railways Department with tableware, and ultimately the Crown Lynn Railways cup and saucer became a twentieth-century icon in the country.

Alongside these bulk-produced functional items, Clark continued to be innovative, founding a laboratory to test clay samples and a variety of other scientific tasks.

After the war, the company began to experiment and diversify. Employees were encouraged to develop different styles. Artist Dave Jenkin came from the Elam School of Art in 1945, and later helped in setting up the design studio. With guidance from his aunt, Briar Gardner, he began by applying glaze effects to ornamental wares, and a trickle glaze technique was developed . In 1948, the “specials” department of Amalgamated Brick and Pipe became Crown Lynn Potteries Limited.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s Tom Clark recruited experienced staff from England and Europe to work in the newly formed Crown Lynn Specials Department. New equipment was purchased which enabled a more extensive range to be developed.

At the time Crown Lynn was the southern hemisphere’s largest producer of household pottery, and remained so up to at least 1978. At its height the factory employed 650 staff, produced about 17 million pieces annually, and exported to Australia, the Pacific Islands, south-east Asia, the USA and Canada.

Crown Lynn became Ceramco in 1974 and diversified into a series of new interests. The Government began allowing cheap imported tableware into the country could not compete with the more advanced manufacturing technologies used in Asia and Europe. Ceramco announced the Crown Lynn factory closure on 5 May 1989

Enter Catherine Anselmi

In 1986 I had the opportunity to purchase a jigger jolly machine that was ex-Crown Lynn and not being fully au fait with machine production of ceramics I called the Crown Lynn office to see if there was anyone, I could ask about it and was put in touch with Ray Macham.

Ray and his wife had been brought out to Crown Lynn many years previous. Ray was a master mould maker and Eileen was ceramic hand painter. When I met Ray in the 1986 he was managing the factory floor.

Whilst visiting him to ask about the jigger jolly machine he gave me a tour of the factory and it was mind blowing. The technology and machinery and production was absolutely fascinating but unfortunately by this time there had been no investment in design for many years and ultimately poor management and lack of vision resulted in the collapse of this wonderful New Zealand icon.

In 1989 when the factory was closing, I rang Ray and said I needed a slip caster, a mould maker and a hand painter to employ in my newly emerging art factory. Ray put me in touch with:

  • Bruce Yallop, a master mould maker that Ray had trained at Crown Lynn. Bruce was starting his own business post Crown Lynn and for the next 10 years he produced all my moulds and modelled for me.
  • John Taitin, the head slip caster at Crown Lynn and Ray advised John to come and work for me.
  • A hand painter, whose name I cannot remember and who did not work for me for very long.
  • He also put me in touch with people like Ray Corrigan who was a technical expert from Crown Lynn, who was amazingly helpful to me as an emerging small factory, having to learn factory production techniques.

The Crown Lynn Moulds

In 1989 when the factory had been sold and was closing down, I tried to obtain some of the Crown Lynn moulds. I particularly wanted the large swan, the sets of jugs and many more. However, Chris Harvey refused to countenance any discussion on this topic. He had no idea of the value of Crown Lynn to the New Zealand history and was peacock proud of selling this national treasure to a foreign country, that I don’t believe ever wanted the moulds. Their interest would have been purchasing the production machinery; so, we lost a wealth of creative work done during the time of Tom Clark and others in his era.

Bruce managed to keep me a copy of the railway cup, 2 jugs and some of the ornate vases. I also got copies of some other vases from Hemara, who had trained in mould making at Crown Lynn and was running his own mould making business near New Lynn by the time I knew him. These were vases that had been historically produced by both Crown Lynn and Titian Studios.

The railway cup and the 2 jugs we made and decorated in my art pottery and the vases I simply cast and glazed with a clear glaze. The vases were not hugely popular, but I loved them and produced for many years in my studio.

All Crown Lynn pieces produced in my studio are stamped with the Crown Lynn stamp and my stamp and if decorated they are also signed by the painter.

Crown Lynn Vase

Crown Lynn Serviette Holder

Titian Studios Kowhai Vase