Maling Pottery
By David Holmes

David Holmes’ article on 'Maling Pottery' is the winner of our £250 Writing Competition … The story of Maling (pronounced "may-ling") pottery begins in Sunderland in 1762. However, as the factory did not mark its early pieces, attributions are uncertain. Identification becomes easier after 1817, when Robert Maling moved the factory to Newcastle and produced a range of transfer-printed domestic wares, marked with his name.

Robert's son, Christopher Thompson Maling, made the family's fortune by automating the production of standardised containers such as jam jars and pint pots. Keillers of Dundee were early customers, placing orders for up to one and a half million jars at a time. This market (of which Maling had an estimated 95 per cent share) helped to fund the building of two new factories. The second occupied a 14-acre site in east Newcastle and was, physically, the largest pottery in the world.

From the 1880s, Maling returned to producing decorative wares alongside the lucrative whitewares. Designers were employed in-house and colour transfer printing introduced. The factory imported Limoges or Staffordshire china which was then decorated and sold on to customers who included Harrods. Always responsive to changes in popular taste, Maling introduced a new range in 1908. This was Cetem ware (a phonetic spelling of the initials of CT Maling) and included elegant black-bodied wares with classical decoration which were strong sellers.

In the 20s, vivid body colours - red, yellow, purple - often with geometric borders reflected the taste of the "jazz" age. Also popular were sumptuously lustred and gilded pieces which were the forte of Maling's chief designer Lucien Emile Boullemier (pronounced "bully-mere"). He, with his creative team, was responsible for producing over 200 new designs each year throughout the 20s and early 30s (when Maling's "deco" wares stand comparison with the work of any contemporary).

Post-war, the Maling factory, which had been state-of-the-art when it was built in the 1870s, was antiquated and uncompetitive. Rescue came in the form of new owners - the Newcastle removal firm of Hoults. Although they used the site for storing furniture, Hoults did invest in the pottery, and production continued. Some new patterns, usually involving Maling's distinctive "waved" painting, were introduced. However, by the 50s, the factory often preferred to play safe by re-working older, tried and tested designs. Foreign competition eventually forced the pottery's closure in 1963.

Today, a 200-strong collectors' society ensures that the Maling name lives on. They can be contacted at: http://www.maling-pottery.org.uk

Illustration shows typical Maling 'waved' painting.