Inspiration and determination from a young age led Lorna Bailey to her dream career in an industry in decline.

Influenced by Clarice Cliff, Lorna Bailey’s designs have grown up into innovative, daring collectibles

"I would never outsource myself. That is not what we’re about. We market on the fact that Lorna Bailey is made and hand-painted in Stoke-on-Trent. That is a selling point, and it works."

THERE was never any doubt in Lorna Bailey’s mind about what she wanted to do after she left school.

While other children flirted with the idea of becoming astronauts or fighter pilots, the young Lorna dreamed only of one career — to be a ceramic designer.

Her initial interest in pottery was aroused by her father, Lionel.

During her childhood, he ran an antiques business, and as a result the family’s Wolstanton home was always full of “beautiful pots”.

Surrounded by pieces by Clarice Cliff and Charlotte Rhead, she couldn’t help but be inspired.

At the tender age of 10, she started her first pottery collection, hunting through car boot sales and antique fairs for Wade animals.

As she grew older her taste also matured, and she was drawn to the Art Deco period — an influence that remains with her today.

But friends and teachers at Wolstanton High School never really understood her obsession with pottery, in what was, even then, a declining ceramic industry.

“People didn’t really ‘get’ me at school,” she relates. “My friends would be talking about university and I just had no interest in that.

From the age of about 13 or 14 I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and the best place to do it was here in Stoke.

“After Wolstanton High, I went to study for a BTEC National Diploma in ceramic design at the Burslem College of Art.

“Even at the interview, the staff were a bit puzzled by me.

“The pottery industry was in decline and there was I wanting to specialise in it. They suggested I do a general art course instead, but I wouldn’t have any of it.”

Strangely enough, Lorna had never even picked up a piece of clay before she started her ceramics design qualification — but she took to it straight away.

“When I had that first piece of clay in my hand, it was a bit scary really — supposing I didn’t like it?” she said.

“But it was also exciting, because it was what I had wanted to do for so long.”

After the first year, Lorna decided she wanted some industry experience and visited all the major pottery houses with her dad in the hope of bagging a summer job. But the offers were not forthcoming.

“Everywhere I went they said they wanted someone with a degree or experience, and I didn’t have either,” she recalls.

It was at this point that Lionel first came up with the idea of helping his daughter go solo. It was a gamble — because neither knew anything about setting up a factory or the processes involved.

But fearing that Lorna would find it almost impossible to get her foot in the door at a major firm without higher education, he put his concerns behind him and took the plunge.

In 1995, he set up LJB Ceramics at the former Artone pottery in Burslem.

“Our first little factory was in Ellgreave Street,” said Lorna.

“We took over Artone and had the kiln thrown in for free. There were three rooms and one corridor, and the kiln was in the corridor.

“We really were starting completely from scratch. Neither Dad nor I had done anything like it before, and it was scary, but very exciting at the same time.

“I kept thinking ‘are we doing the right thing?’, but it was amazing how quickly we learned.”

At first, the pair produced Toby Jugs and decorative ware at the site. It wasn’t until the 1997 Ceramics Showcase, at King’s Hall, that Lorna showed a piece of her own work.

The response was overwhelmingly good though, and gradually, retailers and collectors began to get interested in her work.

The increased trade allowed them to expand, and they moved to the Crownford Works in Newcastle Street, Burslem — gaining an extra 4,000 square feet of floor space.

But the real turning point in Lorna’s career came at the 1998 Ceramics Showcase, when the popular collectors magazine, Collect It!, offered to do an editorial on her.

She explained: “They ran a readers’ offer with one of my pieces. It was on the front cover, and within seven-and-a-half hours it was completely sold out.

“It was the most popular offer they had ever had.

“After that, things really changed. We suddenly became known to the general public and in four weeks the collectors’ club membership had gone from 100 to 1,500.”

This year, they bought out the old Price and Kensington factory in Longport, and LJB Ceramics — now known as Lorna Bailey Artware — continues to go from strength to strength. While other pottery houses shed jobs and collapse all around her, Lorna continues to expand her business.

So what is the secret of her success — and can she offer any advice to ailing pottery giants like Wedgwood and Doulton?

“It is difficult to comment on them,” she said. “They operate in a totally different way to me. I deal with a niche market. We market on exclusivity, whereas they are trying to sell to a mass market.

“I can understand why bigger houses are outsourcing. They have got to compete on a wider scale with retailers who can sell a whole dinner set for £30.

“They have their wares made out in the Far East, and if pottery houses want to compete they have got to do the same.

“I would never outsource myself. That is not what we’re about. We market on the fact that Lorna Bailey is made and hand-painted in Stoke-on-Trent. That is a selling point, and it works on a small scale.”

Despite this, Lorna is optimistic about the future of the pottery industry — but not as we know it today.

She explained: “I think we are always going to have a pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent but the face of it will change.

“I think in the future there will be more and more small manufacturers, like myself, supplying to niche markets. As the bigger houses lay people off, I think the more brave among them will start their own businesses. They will have all the skills and experience, and there is definitely a demand.”

The 25-year-old believes that in the current climate, with cheap imports flooding the pottery market, manufacturers need to concentrate more on design.

“We are design-led, not function-led. Obviously the bigger houses can’t put out the same sort of things that we do, because it is not a mass-market product.

“But I think they do need to focus on what you can’t get with a cheaper import, and that is first-class design.

“Some of the big firms are bringing in designers and I think that’s a good move — like the Jasper Conran collection at Wedgwood.”

Lorna’s own designs have frequently been compared to those of Clarice Cliff — but she believes her latest ranges will help to abolish any future comparisons.

“People compare me to Clarice Cliff but I don’t get annoyed about it,” she admitted. “If you’re going to be compared to anyone I would rather it be her because she is the best.

“I can see why people did see a likeness with my earlier work but my recent work is very much in my own style.

“I am still influenced by that period but comparing me to Clarice Cliff now is lazy. When I look at Clarice’s work and look at mine I don’t see the same thing at all.”

She’s right — her latest designs borrow little from the famous potter.

“They are, in fact, very different and quite daring. In form some are outlandish — avant garde even — looking more like wacky cartoon props than Cliff’s wares.

It is clear that with her growing success Lorna is becoming more confident in her own style.

She no longer needs the safety net of old designs because she now has her own following.

“Success has made me more adventurous, and I have really developed a style of my own over the years,” she said. “I admit I was worried about how the teapots would be received, but they have sold very well, so now I don’t think there are any barriers. I am not afraid to be unusual or different.”

There really is nothing stopping Lorna Bailey now. She has come into her own and fans snap up everything she produces.

It seems Lorna’s prolific output could soon be disturbed though — at the end of the interview she revealed that she would like to have a baby in the near future. But even that won’t bring her career to a halt.

“If I’m pregnant, I won’t be able to come into the factory because of all the paints and chemicals,” she mused.

“But that won’t stop me. I’ll just work from home, and design with felt tips instead.”