Rachel Bishop

Rachel Bishop is a ceramic designer. She graduated from Staffordshire University with a BA hons in Design.

Career at Moorcroft
She joined Moorcroft Pottery in 1993 at the age of 24. A year earlier the firm had turned her down for a job as a paintress, but they had been impressed by her portfolio - the stylised florals and rich colours were already akin to the Moorcroft style - and so they made contact with her when they were recruiting a designer.

Bishop's first commission was to design a large vase for the front of a trade stand at the NEC in Birmingham. The resulting vase Tigris featured iris and lilies on a blue ground, perhaps her most traditional design.
The vase was a success and she went on to take sole responsibility for design at Moorcroft for four years until the firm's centenary in 1997. (Bishop became the head of a team of designers thereafter, as the firm diversified into enamels, stoneware and even glass for a short time).

With a sensitivity to the past, Bishop created innovative designs such as Oberon, Foxglove, Pansy and Lamia. The company, which had been struggling, was transformed. Within two years of her appointment turnover had increased by 150%. Moorcroft had not enjoyed such success since before the Second World War. The Moorcroft collectors´club grew: among the collectors of Bishop's designs are Rod Stewart, Tom Cruise, Leonard Lauder of Estée Lauder cosmetics fame, and the Sultan of Brunei. With good prices on the secondary market, experts such as Eric Knowles have listed Rachel Bishop's work as antiques of the future.

Described in The Glasgow Evening Times as a 'prodigy', Bishop won a Gold Medal in 1996 for Product Of Excellence at Earls Court in London with her 'tribute to Charles Rennie Mackintosh' design, an achievement followed by a Silver Medal the following year. The design, along with the famous Lami], featuring water lilies, became Moorcroft's new image and ran for ten years.

Bishop was largely responsible for re-establishing links with the prestigious in London. The two firms enjoyed a strong partnership in William Moorcroft's era, and Bishop re-kindled the relationship with her annual commissions for the store, and annual public signings of her work that drew in crowds of collectors. The inspiration for these pieces came from Liberty's heritage and Arts and Crafts background in designs such as Cymric Dream, Tudric Dream and Regent, showing Bishop's inventive use of coloured tubelining and stylised design.
As well as ceramics, Bishop was designed scarves and ties for Liberty. The scarves used a version of her Oberon design, featuring intertwining honeysuckle and wild roses, and are now collectors items.

Bishop's eye for detail is never more evident than on the Bullerswood vase, an adaptation of a William Morris carpet, the intricate pattern work almost fills the surface. Bishop employs a similar intricate design style in works such as Anatolia and Renaissance.
In 2003 Rachel Bishop produced Reflections of a Decade, a collection of 10 pieces to mark her decade at Moorcroft. The collection shows versatility of design, from the stylised pattern work of the limited edition Owlpen Manor and Pavion to the delicate more naturalistic Nivalis snowdrops and Amberswood foxgloves.

Rachel Bishop's name was linked to those of great women ceramic designers from the past when her alma mater Staffordshire University named one of the component houses of its Clarice Cliff hall of residence after her .

Media Interest
The Channel 4 television programme "Collectors Lot" followed Bishop's design process from conception to completion in a series of three programmes, featuring her New Forest range of designs, inspired by her childhood home. She also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and has featured in numerous articles.
An exhibition of her work was held at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery this year and Bishop travelled to Australia on a promotional tour with much media interest.

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