Page 239 - Constructing Craft

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requiring, ‘little more than the colouring-in of two different-sized circles’.
Thousands of entries were received from professional designers, craftspeople and
artists.

The winning designs Crown Lynn design competition. ‘Narvik’ (left) and
‘Reflections’. Combining modern design and symbols of New Zealand’s natural
environment. Photo: Studio La Gonda. Photographers, Haruhiko Sameshima
and Mark Adams.

Crown Lynn continued to support competitions which, given the relatively small cost

to the company, were a very effective means of projecting an image of a benevolent
and culturally aware business. The company sponsored the prizes at the 1961

Wellington Arts Festival which were won by studio potters, including Doreen

Blumhardt, Roy Cowan, Mirek Smίšek, Mavis Jack and Jack Laird, all of whom
would later establish themselves as leaders of the craft movement. Crown Lynn

also supported the 1962 visit of Bernard Leach to New Zealand. Unlike the Crown
Lynn design competition in Auckland the winning pieces from the Wellington awards

were not considered suitable for mass-production by Crown Lynn, but Clark could
use the company’s sponsorship of the awards to position it as a benevolent

supporter of the craft movement. Dr Sutch commented that “the competition and

subsequent exhibition of prize-winning work will continue to broaden the well-
formed bridge between New Zealand’s many enthusiastic and highly competent

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studio potters on the one hand and the manufacturers and public on the other.”

Constructing Craft