Page 234 - Constructing Craft

Chapter Twelve: The Crown Lynn Story

Crown Lynn Potteries Limited (Crown Lynn) was a very large company by New

Zealand standards, therefore in its relationship with studio potters there existed a
considerable power disparity. Nevertheless, Crown Lynn was closely related to

studio pottery in that it produced a similar product which sold in a comparable
location and experienced the same economic conditions that impacted on the studio

craft movement. Both the company and individual potters – generally working
collectively through the New Zealand Society of Potters (NZSP) – took advantage of

favourable economic conditions. They cooperated when it suited them and conflicts

arose between them when they competed in the same market. The changing
economic and political circumstances eventually began to cause problems for both

Crown Lynn and the studio potters and forced the company to close down and the
studio potters to adapt.

Crown Lynn Potteries Limited for many studio potters variously represented a
fellow-traveller, the enemy, a supporter of craft, supplier of materials and

information and, for some designers/potters, a source of work. The company’s
fortunes fluctuated depending on government policies, economic conditions,

management decisions and public taste. Here we look at the company’s history to

show how the business co-existed with the studio craft movement and how both
sectors managed the political and economic transition in the changing environment.

Beginnings

Crown Lynn started out in Auckland in the 1850s as R. O. Clark Limited, became

the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company Limited in 1929 and through mergers

became Ambrico c.1946 with a branch of that company becoming Crown Lynn in
1
1948. By 1952 Crown Lynn produced about 20% of the tableware sold in New
Zealand but it was under pressure from a rapidly increasing quantity of imported
2
tableware from Britain.

Constructing Craft