Eric Cornwell Lowe was born in Melbourne in 1901 at
East Brunswick, Victoria. At the time,
a number of potteries operated in the area, but Eric’s father (Arthur Horace
Lindsay Lowe, 1868-1938) was a Salesman and later an Agent. His mother was Amy Beatrice Catterall
(b1871). Eric moved to Sydney and
married Vera Louisa Christopher in 1932, they do not appear to have had
children. Arthur and Amy moved up in
the world, moving from Brunswick to Moonee Ponds, then to Caulfield, an
affluent Melbourne suburb.
Young Eric was
quite entrepreneurial in his late teens as he began importing cut glass and
crockery from Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Timing was not on his side as this began in 1939. This company was called “Eric C Lowe Pty
Ltd.” “Manufacturers of Utility and
Fancy Earthenware”.
The
shareholders of this company were;
·
Eric
C Lowe
·
Mrs
Vera Louise Lowe
·
John
Christopher
·
Winston
McKenley Christopher
·
Brian
Winter LeQueene
·
Josephine
Mary Permewan (Victoria)
·
Ralph
Rankin (Victoria)
Directors of the company were
·
E.C.Lowe
·
V.L.Lowe
·
J.Christopher
·
W.M.Christopher
·
The business was incorporated in New South Wales on
the 11th of July 1939, having previously been carried on by Eric as
a sole trader, and was given 401 ordinary and 2665 preference shares when incorporated.
Eric had a
large amount of stock on hand and could not sell it due to the stigma now
attached to German goods. So, during
the Second World War (1941) Eric and Vera got Government contracts to produce
ceramic wares (cream ware cups and mugs and pots and jugs) for the armed
forces. Eric did not join up as many of his contemporaries did. Many industries supplying the armed forces
were “protected industries” and many of their employees were exempt from military
service. Most potteries at that time
were geared for the war effort and the demand from Australian and American
troops was enormous.
Seen after the
company incorporated, in 1941, Eric began making art pottery. This did not last long as wartime
restrictions meant that this was prohibited in May 1942. They began making teapots, jugs, cups and
mugs around May 1942. During wartime,
price control measures meant that Eric had to submit financial returns to the
Commonwealth government. This fixed the
price that Eric could charge for the output. Thankfully, these records still
exist. These give detailed accounts of
all the itemised accounting for the business.
These are
notable for showing that Fowler, Bakewell and Mashman were making similar items
for the services. Still, this did not
stop the business from making a profit of 39.3% in 1940/41 and 26.0% in
1941/42. Profits gradually dropped and
the next year they only made about 13%.
In 1943/44, the profit was down to 10.7%. The next year produced a deficit of £411. Late in 1944,
Eric had to repay 25 of his workers back pay because of a Womens Employment
Board decision that he had underpaid them.
These were all women as most men had by then enlisted.
Although born
in Victoria, his pottery was started at 122-126 Marrickville Road,
Marrickville, Sydney and it continued there until the early 1970s, when cheap
copies and imports caused a drastic decline in sales and its eventual
closure. The giant Fowler works were already
established there works in the area because of the clay found in the area, and
later, Studio Anna commenced nearby.
They also purchased kaolin from the Pottery Clay Works for £3.15/- per
ton.
In November 1945, a fire started by a
lime kiln spread to the works and quickly destroyed much of the factory. Fire
is an occupational hazard in potteries and brick works but nevertheless it was
a devastating blow. The works had been
extensively refurbished the previous year.
Contracts from the Services were drying up and production had to revert
to peace time items. When the war finished, Arthur began had rebuilt and
began making domestic pottery for the homes of the families of returned
services people. This included a large
range of slip cast vases in a variety of gloss and matte colours, sizes and
shapes, or sprayed to create a speckled texture,
Their output included such products as ceramic horse-head
book ends, several other animal figures, (a pair of greyhounds was a popular
product) tableware, utility and kitchenware. Over 200 different shapes were
produced during their lifetime. Some
products were sold using the name “Hollywood.”
By the early 1950s the company had more than 70 employees and were
producing a large range of hand painted articles which included "Waltzing
Matilda" musical mugs and jugs, and produced bright "gumnut"
pots with pale green and brown glazes.
The musical mugs and jugs
played when lifted, but the movements were expensive and difficult to obtain,
being imported from Switzerland, so many mugs and jugs that should have had
movements were sold without at reduced prices. In the 1960s Diana
diversified their range further into decorated oven and kitchenware, hand
painted with maple, poinsettia, cornflower, blackberry, wattle and flannel
flower designs. In the 1960's, a variety of small slip cast vases hand decorated in
gold were made for a gift shop in the Imperial Arcade Sydney which were
marketed under the name 'Imperial'.
Although these are not ramekins, I have some of them.
After the Second World War there
had been a massive increase in the number of potteries around Australia.
Commercial, studio and backyard potteries were being established in the suburbs
of most major cities and by 1955 there were over 12,000 people working in the
quarrying and manufacture of clay related industries. This also included brickworks.
After the war, Eric had changed production to
domestic pottery and throughout the 1950s, Diana was the largest and most
prolific pottery in New South Wales, producing hundreds of different products
and designs, many hand painted. Native wildflowers were a popular motif.
Among them, as
mentioned, the Flannel Flower, an iconic Sydney plant used in imagery and art
since colonial times. Sometimes known as the Sydney Flannel Flower, it is usually
known as the Flannel Flower and was chosen to be the New South Wales floral emblem for the
Centenary of Federation (1901-2001). It is
found in the sandstone national parks in the greater Sydney area and can be
sometimes found in spectacular drifts.
The flowers are about 50mm in diameter and appear in Spring. The stunning Pink Flannel
Flower is rarely seen as it only appears in the summer following
a bushfire.
Soon after the
end of the Second World War, Eric began advertising for more staff and soon had
a thriving business making home-wares for the thousands of ex-servicemen
starting their families. His pottery
even had a staff canteen, far more advanced than many of the other one or two
person companies operating on a shoestring budget. In the mid 1960s, they (Diana Pottery (Vic) Pty Ltd) had a shop
in Melbourne at 343 Little Collins Street.
The potteries
around Australia employed thousands of people, many given their start in
Australia following migration from Europe after the second word war. Eric Jungvirt who started Studio Anna was
one who started with Eric at Diana. I
think it fair to say that you would have had a piece of Diana pottery in yours
or your parents home at some stage, probably a ramekin, a mixing bowl or a
vase. At their peak, Diana employed around 70 people but this had declined to
around 30 by 1970. They continued on
for a few more years calling their output “Dana”.
In Australia, the Whitlam Government had cut
tariffs without warning by 25 percent in 1973. 1974 saw an increase in imports of 30 percent. By mid-1974, Australia was in an
economic slump with unemployment rising significantly. Short-term credit rates rose to extremely
high levels and this caused prices to spike sharply, and according to
Government figures, inflation topped 13 percent for over a year between
1973 and 1974. On top of these
problems, wage parity was legislated for female workers meant an increase in
wages costs.It was in this climate that Diana fell on hard times and ceased
production. Eric was by then in his
early 50s.
Much of the
Dana ceramics were copies of the later “Nefertiti” ramekins, with a rough
textured (Avocado) exterior and a brown glazed lip and interior. They also
produced wares using the names Hollywood, Imperial and just plain
Australian. Check out the Diana website
for lots more. Also, a potter at
Bendigo Pottery told me that the conveyor that moves the pottery around the
Bendigo Pottery today was said to have come from the old Diana Pottery after it
closed in 1974. The entire Marrickville site consisting of the Fowler, Diana and
Studio Anna potteries was demolished and subdivided in 1982. Eric died in
Sydney NSW on the 10th February 1977 age 76. Vera lived on for many years.
