Retro Pots from Portmeirion:The ‘Totem’ pattern 1963
From small beginnings in 1961 as a pottery company sprang the homesware business which Portmeirion is today .It has grown to become a significant force in the homesware industry, and justifiably boasts “having a strong international following and an established reputation for high quality and innovative design.”
Though the excellent Portmeirion products have changed over the years to meet the changing markets, it is to the very earliest designs that I turn, for it is that early 1960s creativity that is of particular interest to inretrostore.com.
A recent post on the Jacobsen ‘Cylinda-Line’ coffee pot showed the pre-occupation of 1960s designers of table and other ware with geometric shapes, their designs strongly favouring circles,cylinders,and right-angles,and straight lines. The first Portmeirion ‘line’ in 1963 was the ‘Totem’ pattern created by Susan Williams-Ellis. Simple,tall,straight ,and with a cylindrical ‘pot’ ,the coffee-pot in the Totem collection was a great success, and production of the range was stretched to capacity to meet the heavy demand.
If you find this period of Portmeirion of interest you can see what is available to bid-for on the eBay site-click here
