Leonard Griffin

I discovered Clarice's pottery in 1979 and founded the Collectors Club in 1982, to find others who shared my fascination in the (then) obscure designer. My advert in the Stoke newspaper led me to find 30 of her 1927-1939 paintresses; suddenly Clarice the WOMAN and artist was brought alive. By chance I met New York gallery owner Louis Meisel and our 'Bizarre Affair' was published by Abrams NY and Thames & Hudson, London in 1988. It 'shook' the Cliff world and led to my writing 5 further books. For Clarice's story 'in a nutshell' read 'Taking Tea'; if you prefer a full chronology 'Art of Bizarre' is still the most up-to-date volume. 'Fantastic Flowers' covers the floral patterns and revealed Clarice's own 1950s colour slides of Chetwynd House and her life with Colley Shorter, her mentor and the factory owner. To enjoy her most lavishly colourful ware and best shapes in large scale images, see the 2007 'Best of'. My favourite 'Clarice Cliff' book is the one with that simple title, beautifully written by Kay Johnson and Peter Wentworth-Shields in 1976. It introduced 1000s of 'Cliffies' to her work and inspired me. For an in-depth view of the world during Clarice's heyday the biography by Lynn Knight goes into great depth and tells the story from a woman's viewpoint. Thirty five years after buying my first piece of Clarice I am STILL learning about her. This knowledge and in-depth material is shared on the very active club website: www.claricecliff.com which we started in 1998.