Photos/Victoria and Albert Museum.
b egan ta k in g th ro w in g lesso n s fro m G e o rg e S ch e n k , an 80-
year-old flo w e rp o t m aker. F r y p ro d u ced a lim ited ran ge o f
elem en tary p o tte ry th at in tru e O m e g a sty le w a s d ecorated
b y th e w o rk s h o p a rtists. F ru s tra te d b y th e lim itatio n s o f
S c h e n k , F r y th e n b e g a n to w o r k w ith C a r te r , S ta b le r and
A d a m s (later P o o le P o tte ry ) and d evelo p ed a range o f p ra cti-
cal e a rth en w are tab lew are p red om in an tly g la ze d in a sim ple
w h ite m ajolica g la z e , th e form s inspired b y F r y ’s love o f early
E nglish and C h in e se p o tte ry . U n u su ally fo r O m e g a , p o tte ry
b ecam e th e in d iv id u a l p ro v in c e o f F r y , p ro b a b ly b e ca u se he
alone w a s d iscip lin ed en ou gh to learn th e n ecessary sk ills for
p ro d u ctio n . S ales o u tstrip p ed his a b ility to p ro d u ce w o r k , so
a h y b rid series o f p lates and b o w ls w e r e cre ate d u sin g casts
ta k e n fro m o rig in a ls, w ith all th e ir im p e rfe c tio n s , and th en
prod u ced b y th e p ro cess o f jig g erin g , an industrial tech n iq u e
m ore e ffic ie n t th an th ro w in g . F r y w r o te at len g th abou t p o t-
te r y in th e O m e g a ca ta lo g , arg u in g th at it w a s “ e sse n tially
a form o f sc u lp tu re .
.. its su rface sh ou ld ex p ress d ire c tly the
a rtist’s se n sib ility b o th o f p ro p o rtio n and su rfa c e .”
D e sp ite o n go in g con cern s o v e r m on ey, O m eg a p rosp ered
in its first y ea r, ta k in g p a rt in th ree m ajor e x h ib itio n s, re c e iv -
in g im p o rta n t co m m issio n s and a ttra c tin g g o o d p u b licity .
H o w e v e r, it w a s in e v ita b le th at th e o u tb re a k o f th e F irs t
W o rld W a r in 1914 w o u ld h a ve a d e trim e n ta l im p a ct on th e
v ia b ility o f th e w o rk sh o p s. F r y w a s d eterm in ed to k e e p g o -
in g , as m u ch to su p p o rt his a rtists w h o “ w o u ld b e d e stitu te
o w in g to th e general c risis,” and con tin u ed to in vest his p er-
son al m on ey. B ro a d e n in g O m e g a ’s sc o p e , F r y o rg a n ize d e x -
h ib itio n s fro m F re n ch p a in tin g to c h ild re n ’s a rt; th e w o r k -
sh op b ecam e a ta lk in g sh o p and a ltern a tive ve n u e fo r p acifist
m e e tin g s, p o e tr y rea d in g s and th e a tric a l p e rfo rm a n c e s, all
in th e fa c e o f a c u ltu ra l re tre n ch m e n t fro m a b a tte re d and
n atio n alistic p u b lic. W h e n th e in e v ita b le o c cu rre d and a d is-
en ch an ted F r y fin ally clo sed th e d oors o f O m e g a in J u ly 1919,
he w r o te , in a le tte r to th e n o v e list A r n o ld B e n n e tt, “ the
co m m ercialists w ill h ave it all th e ir o w n w a y and th ere w ill
no m ore attem p t at re a lly cre a tiv e d e sig n .” 11
Iron ically, O m eg a clo sed at th e tim e w h en pu blic taste in
E d w a rd ia n E n g la n d w a s b e g in n in g to ch an g e . T h e a rc h ite c -
tu ral h isto rian N ich o la s P e v sn e r argued as early as 1941 that
O m e g a e sta b lish e d p re c e p ts in a rt and d esig n fo r avant-
garde d evelop m en ts to com e in F ra n ce and G erm an y. D e sig n
h isto ry is n o w again reevalu atin g its con trib u tion and T a n y a
H a rro d re c e n tly w r o te th at “ th e e c le c tic B ritish m od ern ism
o f th e in ter-w ar y e a rs.
.. w o u ld b e unim aginable w ith o u t the
p re c e d e n t o f O m e g a .” 12 W h e th e r th e C o u rta u ld In stitu te
o f A r t's ex h ib itio n w ill fin ally estab lish w id e r reco g n itio n
fo r this vib ra n t and atyp ical p e rio d o f E n glish art and design
rem ains to b e seen . P erh ap s F r y ’s clo sin g rem arks on O m eg a,
“ W e w e re to o e a rly ,” still apply.
Julian Stair is a writer, lecturer and internationally exhibiting potter
+
“ Beyond Bloom sbury” is at the Courtauld
Gallery, London (June 18 - September 20);
the multi-author catalog is £25 from shop®
sctenterprises.com.
n. Fry to Arnold
Bennett, 1919.
12. Tanya Harrod,
“The Omega Project,n
C rafts,
May/June
2009, p. 61.
Above: The signboard
by Duncan Grant, 1915,
of oil on wood with
metal studs, hung out-
side the Omega
Workshops premises.
Left: The screen
Bathers
in a Landscape,
1913,
gouache and pencil on
canvas, is by painter
V anessa Bell.
Opposite: This Omega
design for a scarf or rug.
gouache and pencil on
newsprint paper, 1913—
15, shows the influence
of the painter Vassily
Kandinsky.
aug/sep09 american craft 05
