Vase

By designing everything from ceramics to wallpaper for more than 50 different companies, Christopher Dresser became the first modern industrial designer. Like this vase, his designs were frequently very sparse and simple. In the context of the 1880s, Dresser's simple forms were radically different from the elaborate "Victorian" tastes of the time. Dresser thus helped bring a new and revolutionary aesthetic to England's mass, middle-class market. Dresser's aesthetic was inspired by the natural world as well as by the designs of other cultures. This vase emerged from his extensive knowledge of Japanese ceramics. Its double gourd shape and flowing glaze both draw on Japan's ceramic traditions. Stamped with Dresser's signature, this vase was one of hundreds of shapes he designed for Linthorpe between 1879 and 1882.