From the "Carnival" range 1970 I think he designed these himself
50s kitchen tiles made by his firm and designed by his wife Ann Clark/Wynn Evans
Harrow Civic Centre tiles designed by Pentagram
Tiles for King Alfred SchoolKenneth Clark– underrated tile maker
by catherine croft
A lovely obituary of ceramicist Kenneth Clark (1922-2012)—nothing to do with Civilization or Hush Puppies (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jul/18/kenneth-clark) has prompted me to get hold of Clark’s book on tile making, which includes some of his own work. Although Clark did design himself, and worked with his artist wife Ann Wynn-Reeves too, his firm also realised the designs of others very successfully, and that’s partly why he was important. Sadly the magnificent set of tiles, designed by Edward Pond, depicting the History of Plymouth designed for the City’s Armada Way underpass, have been buried (see Lynn Pearson’s good article in the brilliantly named Glazed Expressions magazine, produced by the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society http://www.lynnpearson.co.uk/GlazedExp-Special.pdf. But it seems as though the 1,000-tile mural for Harrow Civic Centre, north-west London, designed by Pentagram, and made by Clark are still there. However architect E. G. Broughton’s original design of the complex included a raised piazza, which was never built, so the tiles are stranded on the present first floor and not very visible. Has anyone been recently? Would love to see more pictures. And how many of these signs did he do? I love them, and the fact that they are so robust and actually part of the architecture–any other examples?
I attended the King Alfred School and passed those tiles every day for years. I never thought them anything other than utterly unremarkable. Hardly the finest example of his work, and unsure why you’ve included them.