During her 65-year career, Susie Cooper introduced more than 4,500
ceramic patterns and shapes, making her one of the most prolific,
versatile and influential designers the industry has ever seen. Between
the 1920s and 1980s she moved from the bold hand-painting of the jazz
age through delicate wash banding and aerograph techniques to
sophisticated lithographic transfer printing on both earthenware and
bone china. Susie not only led the charge of gifted female designers in
the male-dominated Potteries but also pioneered the role of women in
factory management. Alan Marshall charts her progress creating patterns
for Gray's Pottery in the 1920s, running her own Susie Cooper
Productions in the 1930s to 1950s, and designing for Wedgwood in the
1960s to 1980s.