Hollinshead and Kirkham, originally from Burslem in Staffordshire, moved their pottery workshops to nearby Tunstall in 1890. They catered mainly to the middle-class end of the market, and generally produced a range of tableware of conservative design. However, in the economic downturn that followed World War I, the company needed to do something to address falling sales. Designer Harold Growcott was their White Knight.
Growcott devised a range of hand-painted porcelain designs that took advantage of the growing interest in all things Art Deco. The designs featured an abstract background painted in two or more colors onto which bold floral or fruit designs were hand-painted. The result was bold and exciting.
The Delicious Dozen as it came to be known, it was actually a range of 14 designs, but let’s not be pedantic with a cool moniker. The designs were applied to many of the existing pre-war forms, to give them a new lease of life, as well as some new forms more in keeping with the Art Deco style. Due to its similar theme and big, bold paint style, H&K has also been nicknamed ‘Poor Man’s Moorcroft’ but if the prices I’ve had to pay for some of my pieces are anything to go by, that’s not a title I fits today’s collectors market. .
This is the main collection area for this pottery. Hey made many tableware designs, many of them very attractive but none of real interest to collectors (except, of course, for people who have a set that their grandmother inherited from him). But Delicious Dozens have become extremely popular in recent years and if you come across a piece you’ll understand why.
