Currently indexing

Plate

Classification(s):
Pottery
Date: c. 1951 - 1976
Maker: Alan Wallwork (born 1931)
Dimensions:
30 × 200 mm (3 × 20 cm)
Medium: Stoneware
Object number: P1026A
DescriptionGlazed stoneware plate by Alan Wallwork. The blue, brown and grey glazed plate has a decorated rim with incised detailing and impressions.

A potter’s mark “W.” is incised on the base. The label to the front reads “Alan Wallwork P1026A”. A smaller label to the front reads “AW 96 435 60/-”. The ILEA number is painted on the base.


ProvenanceThis object was originally acquired for the Inner London Education Authority’s (ILEA) ‘Circulating Design Scheme’ collection.

The collection was instigated by the London Country Council (later the Greater London Council) and the Council of Industrial Design (COID). The collection’s original purpose was concerned with the teaching and dissemination of modern, ‘good design’.

The collection was established in 1951/52 as the ‘Experiment in Design Appreciation’, later renamed the ‘Circulating Design Scheme’.

The Circulating Design Scheme lent boxed showcases to London schools. The showcases contained handling objects, material samples and interpretation on a specific subject.

COID withdrew its involvement in the Scheme in 1957. After which time, it was managed exclusively by the London County Council from 1957-1963.

After the administrative restructuring of London authorities, the Scheme was jointly managed by the Greater London Council and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1963 – 1976.

The Scheme was operational until 1976 when the collections were withdrawn from circulation. ILEA was abolished in the late 1980s and the collection was donated to Camberwell College of Arts in 1989/90.

ILEA was responsible for secondary and tertiary education in the inner London boroughs, this included Camberwell.

NotesAlan Wallwork studied pottery at Goldsmith’s College. In 1958 he opened a studio and gallery in Forest Hill, South London. Wallwork produced domestic wares and hand-built pieces. He experimented with tin glazing, sgraffito decoration and creating textures by incising and stamping. Fellow potter Bernard Rooke shared a workspace with Wallwork at this time. Alan’s work - particularly his tiles - was commercially successful; the Design Centre accepted his designs, and they were retailed through the Heal's department store. The Craft Potters Association elected him as a council member.