Well worth collecting: The Ridgway ‘Homemaker’ range
By Lena on January 11, 2013
Who would have thought that one of today’s most sought-after ranges of tableware was once sold at Wollworth’s at two and a halfpence a piece. Designed in 1957 by Enid Seeney for the Ridgway Potteries (Stoke-on Trent), the ‘Homemaker’ range, decorated with black stylised images of household items, has now become one of the most collectible dinner sets. With its abstract black and white design so typical for the era, it’s also one of the most beautiful Fifties sets around.
Enid Seeney was a student at Burslem School of Art when she joined Booth & Colcloughs – part of Ridgway Potterries back then – in 1951 and created the Homemaker design: a pattern featuring an eclectic mix of furniture and other household objects such as a carving knife and fork or a plant pot. Yet each of the items is typical for Fifties design, from the kidney table to wooden sideboard.
Individual plates currently cost around £10 on eBay, while a tea set consisting of cup, saucer and plate is around £30. A whole dinner set is valued at up to £500, so keep your eyes open at car boot sales and household clearances.
Other than eBay, here are some great sites all selling the Homemaker range:
tablewhere.co.uk
chinasearch.co.uk
homesweethomestyle.co.uk
What people have said so far…
4 comments
It is an iconic design, which is why Woolworths (RIP) reissued it and sold it throughout the sixties and I think, into the seventies. As such, if you are a fifties purist, its important to remember to look out for the stamp on the back on the plate where the date is indicated.
One of my clearest childhood memories as a small child is of sitting at a kiddie table in my Nanna’s conservatory eating sausage rolls off a Homemaker plate. I was scared of the eye on the lampshade in the pattern so I’d hide it under a sausage roll and eat that one last! Have you seen that Yoyo Ceramics have updated Homemaker using modern household items – a mobile phone, an Alessi lemon squeezer, an iPod – to make the ‘Yoyomaker’ range (http://www.yoyoceramics.co.uk)? Great to see Homemaker back in the (Anglepoise) spotlight!
theres a cup saucer and plate in new walk museum in leicester
I have a bunch of this which I inhereited from my late Aunt. I’m located in Canada. Know of anyone here that is interested in buying?? I wish I had the cups that go with the saucers! (If so, I would be using them!)