To celebrate the arrival of long overdue marriage equality legislation in the UK, we thought timely to showcase one of our favourite Clarice Cliff (1899 – 1972) floral patterns – Gayday.
This design created by Cliff in 1930 gives centre stage to orange, red and purple flowers derived from some part of the Asteraceae family. They are backed up by green leaves and blue crinkly bits, which may be more flowers, or else further foliage, it’s hard to say. These hand-painted ceramics are a thing of beauty and this design was just one of her many plant-inspired patterns. Allegedly, some people don’t like Clarice Cliff. Really? We think handling one of these colourful, uplifting art works is a healing experience, but it does need discerning surroundings when on display to set it off well. Someone should make a film about Clarice Cliff – hard to recall one decent movie about a ceramicist (please no-one say Ghost) – her life story, body of work and the legacy she produced. We would pay to see it.
Why is Gayday one of our favourites? Well Plant Curator is lucky enough to own a pair of Gayday candlesticks, so not biased at all. And, if you’re looking for an ideal wedding present for your gay friends, this would probably do the job.
