Susan Vera Cooper OBE (29 October 1902 – 28 July 1995) was a prolific English ceramic designer working in the Stoke-on-Trent pottery industries from the 1920s to the 1980s.

Life and work

Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, she was the youngest of seven children. From an early age she developed an interest in drawing, and began her art education by attending night classes at the Burslem School of Art. In 1922 she joined the ceramics firm A. E. Gray & Co. Ltd, partially as a means to gain entry to the Royal College of Art. However it was an ambition she abandoned as she decided to focus on the potteries in Stoke. In 1929, motivated by her desire to design ceramic shapes in addition to decors, she broke away with her brother-in-law Albert "Jack" Beeson to set up her own business, as Susie Cooper Potteries.

She was so successful at decorating wares created by Harry Wood that in the 1930s she set up her business in his factory in Burslem. Her business was there for the next fifty years and surprisingly for the time led by a woman.

References

  • Susie Cooper Information Site biography, factory history, pottery marks.
  • Pots designed by Susie Cooper to explore online
  • Gray's pottery website Resource website for Gray's Pottery
  • Royal Designers for Industry & Britain Can Make It