Bequest leads to new designer society at Teesside University

Teesside University is to honour one of the world’s first independent industrial designers thanks to a generous bequest.

A Christopher Dresser scholar has donated £10,000 to Teesside University and together with the Dorman Museum, the University is setting up a Christopher Dresser Society. This is being marked with an inaugural launch and symposium at which several Dresser scholars will talk about his work.

The launch event is free and open to the public on 20 June, 6.00pm to 8.00pm in Teesside University’s Stephenson lecture theatre. Christopher Dresser is famous in Design circles for championing design reform in the 19th century. It was Christopher Dresser’s plan to set up an ‘art industry’ complex in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough and part of this was achieved in 1879 when The Linthorpe Pottery was launched. Ambitions to also set up production of wallpapers, metalware and glass were never fully realised.

The Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough has recently acquired a collection of Christopher Dresser’s work. At the same time, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, has been given a donation of £10,000 to promote research and scholarship into Christopher Dresser and the work of this first and greatest commercial designer of the Victorian age, whose work predates much of 20th century design.

At the launch symposium of the Christopher Dresser Society, the scholars will be joined by Teesside University Principal Lecturer in Design History and Contextual Studies, Paul Denison, who is himself a collector and will be talking about Dresser and his links with the Aesthetic Movement; and Gill Moore, curator at the Dorman Museum. Gill is a graduate of Teesside University who studied Design History at undergraduate level, and completed a master’s degree with a dissertation on Dresser’s local connections.

Much of Dresser’s most influential work was produced from the 1860s onwards when he worked increasingly as an adviser and designer to large and small manufacturers. At a time when the fast-expanding Victorian middle classes were enthusiastically furnishing their homes, Dresser designed everything necessary for the family home. His most prolific work was in textiles, carpets and wallpaper but he is much admired today for his silverware, claret jugs, tea services, serving dishes, toast racks, candlesticks and cruet sets. He received contracts to design silver and electroplate for Hukin & Heath of Birmingham and for James Dixon & Sons of Sheffield in the late 1870s. He also designed brass and copper for Benham & Froud, and ‘japanned’ metal for Richard Perry of Wolverhampton.

Dresser designed some beautiful and graceful Clutha art glassware for the Glasgow manufacturer James Couper. The ceramics which he designed for the Linthorpe Art Pottery received favourable praise nationally and sold around the world. They carried Dresser’s facsimile signature to show that they had been approved by Dresser himself – an early example of a designer label. Henry Lyons, a Dresser scholar, says: ‘Christopher Dresser was a household name who was famed for championing industrial design so that ordinary people could acquire well-made and engaging goods. He pioneered what we now recognise as the simple and modern aesthetic. His connection with Middlesbrough as Art Director of Linthorpe Pottery is something I believe should be celebrated.

‘Having a Christopher Dresser society is an excellent idea and will encourage research and scholarly activity into his contribution to design.’

Professor Gerda Roper, Dean of the School of Arts & Media, adds: ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate Christopher Dresser, who contributed so much to the development of design nationally and internationally and also has this connection with Middlesbrough. It will also enable us to carry out research into Christopher Dresser’s oeuvre and to explore his vision.’

Gill Moore, Curator at the Dorman Museum, said: ‘Christopher Dresser is an important figure in the history of design and to have an outstanding collection of his works in Middlesbrough is incredible. His cutting edge designs for Linthorpe Pottery are recognised all over the world and it is fitting that a society dedicated to him should be launched here.’

The Teesside University Christopher Dresser Society launch symposium will be the first step to establishing support for the heritage of Dresser’s designs and his contribution to design history. ‘We will be organising a full conference for 2014 and there will be events, news and activities coming on stream that will be of great interest to collectors and people who have an interest in both Christopher Dresser and design in general.’

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