Bizarre became amazingly popular during the Depression. Sixty hand-paintresses and several hundred workers were needed to cope with demand. The paintresses learned to skillfully paint Clarice’s cubist patterns and rainbow-coloured landscapes freehand.

Bizarre ware perfectly caught the spirit of the Jazz Age, as Clarice also designed her own shapes, and she was the first Staffordshire designer to issue Art Deco ceramics. Every piece bore her printed signature, so without knowing it she introduced the idea of the ‘designer label’. In 1930 Clarice Cliff became the first female Art Director in the Potteries.

Novel promotional ideas such as the Bizooka, a five-foot high horse made of pottery, and appearances at stores with Gracie Fields and Sir Malcolm Campbell, ensured that Clarice Cliff was soon known throughout Britain and the Empire.

Newport Pottery was supplied with the raw materials for its earthenware by canal barge which docked at the Wilkinson’s site further along the canal towards Middleport.

Clarice went into semi retirement from 1941 and died in 1972. Ironically, this self-taught woman, is now linked to Wedgwood, one of Staffordshire’s most famous names, as they now reproduce hand-painted versions of her designs.

Clarice’s most enduring design, Crocus, remains unique in that no other completely hand-painted pattern was in production between 1928 and 1963. Early every spring, the surrounding banks team with the flower she made her own, which is why this part of the canal is called Crocus Walk.