Dora Lunn (1881-?)

Dora Lunn was the daughter of Richard Lunn who taught ceramics at Camberwell School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. She attended evening classes at the Royal College of Art and gained a teaching qualification in 1907. Her involvement in the making of pottery arose from her desire to help her father in his work. This plan had to be abandoned on his death in 1915.

A teaching job in a local school provided financial support when she set up her own Ravenscourt Pottery in Hammersmith, London in 1916. Lunn employed, wherever possible, girls straight from school. They worked mainly in the open air to counteract the health hazards to which most pottery workers were prone. This venture attracted considerable attention in the press, where it was portrayed as an independent and courageous act on the ‘home front’ during the First World War.

The pottery was a success, but output was hampered by inadequate equipment. In response, Dora Lunn designed the ‘Ravenscourt Potter’s Wheel’ which was later patented and manufactured on a large scale for use in art schools and by amateurs. In 1917 Dora Lunn was the first woman to exhibit at the British Industries Fair, showing a range of the products of her pottery, from everyday china ware to expensive ‘one off’ pieces.

The financial security of her business allowed Lunn, during the 1920s, to develop her interests in education. She believed that the way to raise standards of craft education in Britain was to improve the professionalism of teaching. She organised vacation course for pottery teachers ar the Ravenscourt Pottery. She also published a number of books and pamphlets intended for use by teachers. As Craft Education Adviser to the London County Council Dora Lunn had further opportunity to implement her ideas.

Declining interest in the style of the products of the Ravenscourt Pottery led eventually to its closure in about 1925 and from then on, apart from producing studio pottery at home, Lunn concentrated on work in schools and at the Froebel Institute.

Although it was for a limited length of time, Dora Lunn achieved considerable success both as a potter and as a business woman. This was particularly unusual during and immediately after the First World War. Her name is very rarely mentioned in histories of British ceramics, despite the fact that the Victoria and Albert Museum in London recognised the quality of her work by buying pieces direct from her for their collection.

In 1947 Dora Lunn wrote in Life and the Crafts: “… a mother called, applying for a post for her daughter, remarking that she could sit and paint the designs on the pottery. I told her that there was no opening at present within the pottery, but added that I did need help at the exhibitions in the way of selling pottery. With a shriek she said: ‘A-er! my daughter is a lady!’… we called each other ‘women’ from that day forth.”

Image captions clockwise from the top
1. Dora Lunn with an assistant at the Ravenscourt Pottery. Between 1916 and 1924.
2. Pottery class run by Dora Lunn, 1930.
3. The Ravenscourt Pottery stand at the British Industries Fair in 1917. She is alleges to have been the first woman to have exhibited at such a venue.
4. Lampstands designed by Dora Lunn, shown in ‘Studio Yearbook’, 1920.
5. Pottery group, ‘Motherhood’ by Dora Lunn, 1925.