Carlton Ware

Carlton Ware

Carlton Ware was a pottery manufacturer based in Stoke-on-Trent. The company is known for its tableware, often in the form of highly decorated leaves or fruit, and the ceramic toucans it made as promotional items for Guinness. It produced hand-painted domestic pottery in high art deco styles during the 1920s and 1930s and continues to produce items today.

Carlton Ware concentrated on the decorative giftware end of the domestic pottery market throughout most of its career. Its earliest works included typical decal and hand-painted table-ware in a range of mostly floral patterns as well as items inspired by Wedgwood and other respected potters. During the late 1930s they introduced a new series of table-ware, with boldly embossed floral and foliage patterns such as fox-glove and anemone. This series continued in unbroken production into the 1960s, although later designs were progressively simplified.