The Last Vineyard

Born and bred in the heart of the Staffordshire potteries, Amber Johnson had earned a university place to read Archaeological Art. Daughter of a professional artist, she had spent time in Paris, visiting museums and art galleries to further her knowledge about her chosen career.

Close to Montmartre, she had stumbled on the last surviving vineyard in Paris and that stirred memories of grapes in design and of Moorcroft in her home city of Stoke-on-Trent. In an instant, she was at work on a design of her own. Her researched choice of the elegant 138/12 shape came about because of its Gothic, architectural 'feel', synonymous with the structures seen in Montmartre.

Patterns and shapes inspired by the art nouveau Abbesses metro station serving Montmartre gave Amber her lines to frame rich bunches of grapes while panels on the neck of her vase mirror shapes on an Art Nouveau door near to the steps leading up to Sacre Coeur Itself. Wine-coloured lines for the vineyard frame the edge of the vase just as they frame the edge of the familiar metro station before fading away into the smoky blue of a Parisian sky.

Whilst succulent vines are the darling of still-life paintings, symbolizing life's transience, grapes and vines also offer an abundance of other themes in art, including sensuality, fruitfulness, kingship, riches, fertility and as for wine itself, new beginnings and sacred covenants. The representation of vines in Moorcroft art pottery go back to some of William Moorcroft's earliest and most iconic designs: Grapes for Liberty & Co in 1906; and his iconic Pomegranate, featuring succulent, rich, burgundy grapes - one of the first designs to flow out of our colossal bottle oven in 1914 with a band of fruit against a mottled green and ochre ground.

Designed by Amber Johnson

Limited edition of 15

Size | Height 30cm