This hand-painted bowl is from Frank Carpay's 'Handwerk' line of ceramics, produced for New Zealand pottery manufacturer Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd. The colourful range, influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso, was intended to combine art with commercial ceramics and excite New Zealanders about contemporary design. The works were shown at exhibitions and upmarket department stores, with the intention of then mass-producing the most popular pieces.
Failure
Critics celebrated the Handwerk designs but the New Zealand public did not. Limited sales were the official reason for the failure of the line. The Crown Lynn promotion of Handwerk as superior, and its European-sounding name were disliked by 1950s New Zealand, where the Dutch, like many recent immigrants, were regarded with suspicion.
In 1956, without warning, Carpay was 'let go' from Crown Lynn and Handwerk ceased production.
Frank Carpay
Franciscus (Frank) Carpay (1917-1985) was thirty-five when he arrived in New Zealand from Holland in 1953. Having worked as a designer since the early 1940s, he had good experience when Crown Lynn hired him to work in the 'Specials Department'. Since his death in 1985, Carpay's talent as a skilled and versatile designer has been more widely recognised.