Tag Archives: burnt offerings

In 1909 a 28 year old welsh woman by the name of Daisy Makeig Jones joined the Wedgwood company as a designer, and in 1915 the first Fairyland Lustreware patterns were introduced. Like her arts & crafts contemporaries, Daisy’s work revolved around nature. But this particular style she created took children’s fantasy to a whole new level.

Iridescent blues, greens, and oranges swirl around the porcelain with lovely gold outlines, while fairies & butterflies jump and flit about the flora and fauna. I’ve seen some on display in musuems before, and where ever you stand, the light bounces against it, changing the color and adding drama. Making her fairy-tale’s come to life like ceramic zoetropes.

She was a bit of a JK Rowling, as each piece had elaborate stories to go with them. They were very popular for the time, as the colors and patterns brought people out of their drab lives. But sadly like most creations of the Art Nouveau era, they fell out of fashion, and in the 1920′s her pieces declined in sales. Rather than embrace the new modern era of Art Deco, Jones kept up with the style she created, going deeper and deeper into her Fairyland world.

In 1931 Jones was asked to retire from Wedgwood. This angered her so much, that she ordered one of the workers to smash up all her lustreware sample pieces. Ha Ha! Hell hath no fury like a creative woman scorned! Gotta love that! oxo gd