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Crown Lynn
Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd was a New Zealand ceramics manufacturer based in New Lynn, Auckland. Operating under various names between 1929 and 1989, it grew from the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company (Ambrico) into the largest producer of domestic pottery in the Southern Hemisphere. At its height the factory employed over 650 staff, produced up to 17 million pieces annually, and exported to Australia, the Pacific Islands, Asia, North America and beyond.
Crown Lynn became known for supplying robust utilitarian ware during the Second World War, including crockery for the New Zealand Railways Department and Allied forces, before expanding into household and decorative tableware. Designers such as Dave Jenkin, Frank Carpay, Mirek Smisek and Ernest Shufflebotham introduced new styles and techniques, and the discovery of high-quality halloysite clay at Matauri Bay enabled the company to compete with imported brands.
Although the factory closed in 1989 amid growing competition from imported tableware and changes in the New Zealand economy, Crown Lynn remains an enduring design icon. Its products are represented in major museum collections, and its legacy is preserved at Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum in New Lynn.
The pottery's origins started with an 1854 land purchase at Hobsonville, near Auckland, by Rice Owen Clark. He had arrived in New Zealand thirteen years before and had previously worked as a school teacher in Wellington and as a clerk in Auckland. To drain his land, he made his own pipes by wrapping logs with clay and firing them with charcoal. This first production led to his making pipes for his neighbours, and by the 1860s he had a thriving pipeworks. His success encouraged a number of others to form similar small companies. In 1929 the various small producers merged to become the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company.
Clark's plant moved from Hobsonville to New Lynn, Auckland, in 1925. New Lynn offered better clay, more access to workers and a rail siding close by.
Tom Clark, one of Rice Owen Clark's great-grandsons, began working in the firm during the 1930s depression. He was responsible for the plant expanding in 1937 to produce items unrelated to the building trade such as electrical insulation equipment and moulds for rubber products such as gloves, baby bottle teats and condoms. Clark was an employer who always encouraged his staff to experiment with new products. As a result, an oil-fired continuous tunnel kiln was built in 1941, and tableware manufacture began the following year. The company had established a research department in 1938 to investigate the viability of producing tableware from New Zealand clays.
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, only essential goods were imported into New Zealand, and by December 1940 no imported crockery was available. Under a directive from the wartime Ministry of Supply, the company produced thousands of coffee mugs and plates for the American forces stationed in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, as well as tableware for New Zealand military and domestic use.
One and a half million cups were made in the financial year from April 1943 to March 1944. Those early cups had a significant flaw: the handles broke off easily. However, the year's production reports said that "the quality of the articles is steadily increasing".[citation needed] This type of utilitarian tableware became central to Crown Lynn, and the company gained a reputation for supplying sturdy and reliable products. This reputation culminated when the company was also contracted to supply the New Zealand Railways Department with tableware, and ultimately the Crown Lynn Railways cup and saucer became a twentieth-century icon in the country.
Crown Lynn
Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd was a New Zealand ceramics manufacturer based in New Lynn, Auckland. Operating under various names between 1929 and 1989, it grew from the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company (Ambrico) into the largest producer of domestic pottery in the Southern Hemisphere. At its height the factory employed over 650 staff, produced up to 17 million pieces annually, and exported to Australia, the Pacific Islands, Asia, North America and beyond.
Crown Lynn became known for supplying robust utilitarian ware during the Second World War, including crockery for the New Zealand Railways Department and Allied forces, before expanding into household and decorative tableware. Designers such as Dave Jenkin, Frank Carpay, Mirek Smisek and Ernest Shufflebotham introduced new styles and techniques, and the discovery of high-quality halloysite clay at Matauri Bay enabled the company to compete with imported brands.
Although the factory closed in 1989 amid growing competition from imported tableware and changes in the New Zealand economy, Crown Lynn remains an enduring design icon. Its products are represented in major museum collections, and its legacy is preserved at Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum in New Lynn.
The pottery's origins started with an 1854 land purchase at Hobsonville, near Auckland, by Rice Owen Clark. He had arrived in New Zealand thirteen years before and had previously worked as a school teacher in Wellington and as a clerk in Auckland. To drain his land, he made his own pipes by wrapping logs with clay and firing them with charcoal. This first production led to his making pipes for his neighbours, and by the 1860s he had a thriving pipeworks. His success encouraged a number of others to form similar small companies. In 1929 the various small producers merged to become the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company.
Clark's plant moved from Hobsonville to New Lynn, Auckland, in 1925. New Lynn offered better clay, more access to workers and a rail siding close by.
Tom Clark, one of Rice Owen Clark's great-grandsons, began working in the firm during the 1930s depression. He was responsible for the plant expanding in 1937 to produce items unrelated to the building trade such as electrical insulation equipment and moulds for rubber products such as gloves, baby bottle teats and condoms. Clark was an employer who always encouraged his staff to experiment with new products. As a result, an oil-fired continuous tunnel kiln was built in 1941, and tableware manufacture began the following year. The company had established a research department in 1938 to investigate the viability of producing tableware from New Zealand clays.
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, only essential goods were imported into New Zealand, and by December 1940 no imported crockery was available. Under a directive from the wartime Ministry of Supply, the company produced thousands of coffee mugs and plates for the American forces stationed in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, as well as tableware for New Zealand military and domestic use.
One and a half million cups were made in the financial year from April 1943 to March 1944. Those early cups had a significant flaw: the handles broke off easily. However, the year's production reports said that "the quality of the articles is steadily increasing".[citation needed] This type of utilitarian tableware became central to Crown Lynn, and the company gained a reputation for supplying sturdy and reliable products. This reputation culminated when the company was also contracted to supply the New Zealand Railways Department with tableware, and ultimately the Crown Lynn Railways cup and saucer became a twentieth-century icon in the country.