......RETURN TO STEPHEN SMITH LISTING

Illustrated below are a number of trial pieces for Moorcroft Enamels prepared by Stephen between 1999 and 2002. Many of the trials created by the artists were superb designs but did not make it through as catalogue pieces for a variety of reasons. Looking at some of these, and comparing them with many designs that were accepted, I have to say the decisions sometimes seem bizarre!

To appreciate why this may have been the case you have to understand a little of the background to the company and its operation. In the early years of Moorcroft Enamels the freehand artists like Stephen were self-employed. They created the designs in their own time and, when a design was ready, a trial piece was painted. A price per piece had then to be negotiated for the artist to paint the edition. If that could be agreed, the design also had to be selected by the Moorcroft Design Board.

A trial piece that was a brilliant concept and beautifully executed may have fallen by the wayside for one of many reasons. It might be that it was too good for the price structure Moorcroft had in mind, or the artist felt that he couldn't paint it for the price offered, or someone on the Board didn't like it, or there were too many other designs for that year. It should always be remembered that every freehand piece had to be painted to a price - one that was a very small fraction of the eventual retail price - so £10 per piece could be the difference between acceptance or not.

The PEX box was one of the most challenging pieces for the artists as it required four designs which had to fit together - outside lid, inside lid, inside box and all round the sides of the box. There was a large area to be painted. As a result, there was a high casualty rate of trial pieces and the PEX boxes that went through to production often represented good value for money compared to vases. This also explains why such a high proportion of all freehand editions were on the 4 shape - they were easier to design and past experience suggested they were more likely to be accepted.

Moorcroft were probably attracted to buy Kingsley Enamels because they wanted to create a range of vases using their patented shapes and early designs and as an outlet for the newly created Design Studio team. They were possibly not much interested, in the first place, in freehand painted work created by former Kingsley Enamel artists like Stephen and Terry. Ironically, it was their freehand painted wildlife designs that proved to be the huge success with collectors, especially the in-out vases pioneered by Stephen. The litho printed and hand coloured designs, such as old Moorcroft patterns and Design Studio creations, largely failed to capture the public's imagination. So much so that, at one stage, when retailers only wanted to order the freehand painted editions, they were told they would only be allocated them if they also ordered a full range of the litho pieces. Despite capitalising on the success of freehand painted editions by rapidly increasing the retail price of them, Moorcroft, for whatever reasons, eventually decided to pull out.

One thing is certain though. Collectors were prepared to pay high auction prices for trials at Open Events and retailers were fighting to get hold of those that made it through as catalogue editions. It couldn't, therefore, have been because they were losing money on this kind of business. After all, they didn't employ the artists or provide them with workspace. The design work was done for them in the artists own time and they could pick and choose the designs from those offered, with the rejections being sold at a premium. They presold virtually all of the product before it was produced and had a huge profit margin. Most companies would die for a business model like that!