By Louise Irvine
Congratulations to Sally Tuffin, Richard Dennis, and the team at the Dennis Chinaworks who celebrate 30 years of creativity with an open day on July 2 at their delightful pottery in Somerset, England. Sally and Richard have been long time friends and supporters of WMODA with their thriving art pottery and publishing business. A selection of Sally’s diverse designs from Arthur Wiener’s extensive collection will be featured in our contemporary gallery when the museum reopens.
In 2021, we reported on Sally’s lockdown experience “through a window” in rural England as she and her team kept the pottery going through challenging times. New designs have continued to flow from the drawing board to the kiln, including some dramatic abstract designs by Buchan Dennis, who works alongside his parents at the Dennis Chinaworks.
Sally Tuffin was the Art Director at the Moorcroft Pottery and helped revive the company’s fortunes before re-establishing her own studio in 1993. Radiant sunflowers from the Dennis Chinaworks logo were among her earliest designs and the new WMODA exhibition includes two spectacular vases and a trial Sunflowers jug from 1995. There are lots of trial pieces in Arthur Wiener’s collection following his visit to Richard and Sally’s Somerset pottery. He also has many unique pieces acquired at Bonhams during their specialty studio auctions.
Over the last 30 years, Sally has explored many different design directions. She reflects the beauty of her natural surroundings in her studies of flowers, trees, and gardens, often visited by birds and butterflies. Her animal designs range from British wildlife to exotic African safari animals. She loves to play with surface patterns as with her leopard that metamorphoses into a butterfly. Sally’s colorful designs wrap around the forms of her vases like the fabric of a dress. Pattern making and cutting were part of Sally’s first career as a successful fashion designer in London during the swinging sixties.
Sally turned from clothes to clay after marrying Richard Dennis, an antiques dealer specializing in the Victorian Arts & Crafts Movement. She became a huge fan of William Morris and has reimagined his fabric and wallpaper patterns on a variety of pots over the years. His iconic Peacock & Dragon curtains to hang in a window on Sally’s Morris Interior vase and the pattern also appears on a magnificent chalice.
The William Morris Gallery in London has commissioned exclusive designs as has the Victoria & Albert Museum. Sally’s Bullerswood vase was based on a William Morris carpet at the V & A and her experimental ruby luster Antelope vases were inspired by a William De Morgan dish on display in the museum’s British Galleries.
George Tinworth’s mischievous mice for Doulton’s Lambeth Pottery are another of Sally’s favorite sources and she has produced several whimsical mouse designs. One of the most ambitious is the unique Venetian Mouse Tower at WMODA. Alan Pepper is responsible for the little relief modeled sculptures that have become a distinctive feature of the Dennis Chinaworks designs.
As well as being a star of the contemporary gallery, Sally’s work is also displayed in other WMODA exhibitions throughout the museum. Her Josephine Baker tribute pieces and Klimt inspired golden lustre designs will dazzle visitors in our new Art Deco Gallery.
Read more about Sally Tuffin’s work at WMODA
Through a Window · Sally Tuffin and the Dennis Chinaworks
Peacocks & Dragons
Sunflowers for Solidarity
