Kenneth Townsend Website

Pip (of 20th Century Pottery, Art & Collectables fame) has put
together an excellent website regarding Kenneth Townsend's designs,
much of which is on ceramics.

http://www.kenneth-townsend.co.uk/index.html

Pip, I'm in love with the Scottish Piper!

Carolyn

Ah actually David has done all of the hard work. The site came about because of various discussions David and I were having about the Kenneth Townsend London Scenes designs for Chance Glass (of which I have a complete set) and then it progressed to his other designs. David and I were frustrated by the total lack of information about this very talented man and so came about the website. A little detective work led us to his designs for Pickwick Books who were able to put us in touch with Ken's widow, Heather, and sons on the South Coast.

David is the one who should be applauded for putting together such a great site and for allowing me to be involved :-) David's meeting up with Heather next month (sadly I can't make it - too much happening with Her Maj in December) so a few more questions should be answered. Heather will also be showing David her own collection of Ken's work which I believe David will be photographing and adding to the site.

Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention Carolyn.

Thanks for posting the information – his work on ceramics really concentrated on the decoration of tiles, mugs and dishes, but it is worth noting that his brother, Denis, ran Iden Pottery until quite recently.

The Scottish Piper design is really very diffiult to get held of. I think Pip has one, and I have a strange one in different colours advertising a British Fair in Munich... :con2: Must post these...

I love the cruet set is it Hornsea?

which cruet set is that Dan?

http://www.kenneth-townsend.co.uk/pottery.html

this one,looks a bit Tremar but I don't thing it is Tremar

Ah OK I know the ones you mean now - they belong to Kenneth's son. As far as I know Ken only designed the Love Mugs for Hornsea - so I'd imagine these were produced by another company. There is thought in some areas that Kenneth used blanks and other items from his brother Dennis' pottery (Iden) but this is hearsay and unproven.

Hopefully David can get to the bottom of some of these myths when he visits Ken's widow.

The cruet set (or moneyboxes?) is one thing I would like identified, so thanks for raising it. The style looks familar, but I would like to get a set if possible.

Lustrusstone brought it up in the "Let's talk Potter" forum and I liked
it so much I thought Pip should be complimented. And I was hoping
someone would tell me that the Scottish Piper was common as hens' teeth
and would be available to me for about 99 cents or pence. Oh well. I
will be looking on fleabay to see what I can find.

But I have to say, the KT website is very nicely put together and despite what Pip says, they should both be applauded.

I'll look forward to seeing more of his whimsical designs.

Carolyn

As an update, Max and I had a very pleasant time when we visited Heather on Wednesday (17th Dec). Her son, Jeremy, was also there and is a very talented artist in his own right, although having a totally different style to his father.

It gave me a chance to see Ken's abstract work, his early work, some other tile designs that were never produced, and some of his animal sculptures. All highly delightful and most enjoyable to see. Owls, apparently, were Ken's favourite and you can see them crop up fairly often. Funnily enough, I do have several owl glass sculptures.

I will update the web site when time permits - probably over the Christmas period.

The chestnut soup we were treated to was also a revelation!

Slight update:

Here are some tiles you should never find!

dantheman wrote:http://www.kenneth-townsend.co.uk/pottery.html

this one,looks a bit Tremar but I don't thing it is Tremar

Dan, I meant to say - these are now identified as Iden Pottery, which was owned by Ken's brother, Dennis.

So Ken designed these for Iden did he? So can we now be certain now that there *was* a professional link between Ken and Dennis at some point...

David, I'm absolutely loving the Robin Hood illustrations - what were medium were they printed on?

Sorry Pip - didn't get a notification and have been working straight through Christmas - I did have the 25th off though!

I'm sure these were painted as watercolours directly onto paper. I wonder if Heather would be interested in producing these as a limited edition set? Hmm, now there's a possibility... not sure where © lies though.

No worries David, I'll mail you...