Ruskin Pottery

The Iconic Glazes

Ruskin pieces are renowned not for their applied decoration, but for the astonishing variety, depth, and richness of their glazes, many of which were inspired by ancient Chinese ceramic techniques. Key glaze types include:

• Flambé (or High-Fired): The most highly regarded and difficult to produce, resulting from the reduction of copper and iron oxides at extremely high temperatures. This produced intense, unpredictable colours, most famously the blood-red "sang-de-bœuf" effect.

• Lustre: A shiny, almost iridescent, metallic-looking finish, often in vibrant colours like Kingfisher Blue, lemon yellow, or orange. These were popular from around 1905 to 1925.

• Soufflé: A "misty" or mottled glaze effect, often seen in blues and greens.

• Crystalline: Glazes where crystals are deliberately grown within the glaze during firing, creating a distinct, textural effect.

In a dramatic act to ensure the uniqueness of his work, William Howson Taylor destroyed all his glaze recipes and notes when the pottery closed in 1935, ensuring the secrets of the distinctive Ruskin finishes went with him.

Ruskin's Art Deco Output (c. 1920s–1935)

While Ruskin's early work was rooted in the Arts and Crafts and drew heavily on Chinese-influenced forms (simple, elegant, timeless shapes), its later output, especially from the mid-1920s up to its closure, adapted to the emerging Art Deco style.

The Art Deco movement (popularized after the 1925 Paris Exhibition) was characterized by sleek modernity, geometric motifs, and a love for bold colour—elements that married well with Ruskin's existing focus on innovative, vibrant surfaces.

Key Art Deco Characteristics in Ruskin Pottery:

• Shapes: While Ruskin always favored simple, wheel-thrown forms, the later pieces began to incorporate more geometric, angular, and stepped shapes typical of Art Deco design. This included cylindrical vases, stepped bowls, and pieces with strong horizontal or vertical emphasis.

• Moulded Decoration: Art Deco favoured clean, bold lines and repetitive patterns. Ruskin introduced a small range of moulded geometric pieces in the late 1920s, which offered a departure from the earlier plain forms and clearly referenced the Art Deco trend.

• Crystalline Glazes: The Crystalline glazes, which became more prominent in the later years (phasing out the Lustres from around 1927), are strongly associated with the Art Deco period. Their textural effect, creating structured, minute crystals within the glaze, gives the surfaces a highly decorative, controlled, and modern appearance, often used on the new, simpler Art Deco-influenced shapes.

• Colour: Ruskin's established use of vibrant, jewel-like colours, such as the Kingfisher Blue, brilliant yellows, and deep reds—was perfectly suited to the Art Deco palette, where striking contrasts and rich tones were highly valued.

In essence, Ruskin transitioned from its Arts and Crafts origins by retaining its core focus on ground-breaking glazes and applying them to the clean, modernist forms and surfaces demanded by the Art Deco era. The resulting pieces, particularly those with the Crystalline and late High-Fired glazes on angular, dated shapes, are a unique blend of scientific ceramic innovation and 1920s decorative art.