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Onion Vase designed by Christopher Dresser

Christopher Dresser (1834 – 1904) became known as the first ‘industrial designer’. He designed objects for the home that were functional yet beautiful, that could be mass-produced making them more affordable. Ornament, shape, colour and function were all important to him. He saw perfection in nature and used the natural world as inspiration for many of his abstract forms, like this vase surrounded by five onion shapes.

Onion Vase designed by Christopher Dresser

Dresser designed over 1,000 pots for the Linthorpe Pottery in Middlesbrough, putting the town on the map as a centre for some of the most influential and innovative ceramic designs of all time.

Image courtesy of Middlesbrough Museums Service