Page 240 - Constructing Craft

The linking of the handmade and machine-made was a feature of design that the

European founders of Modernism, such as Walter Gropius, believed would ensure a
future for craft. Sutch’s comment matched ideas then current that New Zealand

could emulate this linking of craft and industry.

Crown Lynn Continues to Grow

By March 1963 Crown Lynn was supplying half the total New Zealand market for
domestic china and was producing eighty different dinner sets and ‘a huge range of

cups, saucers, plates, jugs, ovenware, ornaments, bowls, nursery ware, lamps,
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vases, and vitrified tableware for hotels, hospitals and restaurants.’ However, the
introduction of new designs was slowing as a result of a marketing decision made

by Clark and his managers. They had introduced a replacement guarantee policy
whereby customers could buy parts of any pottery set for up to five years after it

was first produced. The policy was based on five ‘attractive middle-of-the-road
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patterns’. The policy was initially a huge success but eventually, as more designs
were introduced, it became a burden. By 1965 thirty designs were available and
because of the five-year availability clause changes in design became slow and

difficult. For studio potters this was an opportunity to exploit their position. They

could produce new designs quickly and were not constrained by a guaranteed
replacement policy. Indeed, the fact that each piece was different was their

marketing strength.

Constructing Craft