Charles Jeffrey’s New Wedgwood Collaboration Is a Subversive Riff on a British Classic – VOGUE
Fri 30 Jun
When picturing a piece of Wedgwood’s iconic Jasperware – the famous ceramics featuring white reliefs of Neoclassical figures and motifs laid over a duck-egg blue – in situ, what first springs to mind is probably a grand Regency townhouse in Bath, or a sprawling Palladian estate in Yorkshire. Less likely to be conjured up in the mind’s eye, perhaps, would be a trio of aspiring rock gods in slick tailoring and jet-black mod-inspired bowl cuts, sipping their tea out of paint-spattered porcelain on the factory floor.
"From the beginning, Charles was our first choice for who we wanted to kick off this new chapter for Wedgwood."
Alice Bastin (Wedgwood's Creative Director)
That's where Charles Jeffrey comes in. The Scottish design maverick – who has blazed a trail through menswear after first launching his label Loverboy in 2014, off the back of a popular queer night he ran in east London – marks the first collaborator in a new series of creative partnerships spearheaded by Wedgwood's creative director, Alice Bastin, who joined the ranks of the 264-year-old fine china manufacturer last year.
"From the beginning, Charles was our first choice for who we wanted to kick off this new chapter for Wedgwood," says Bastin. Together, the pair have dreamed up a playful, gently iconoclastic take on some of the brand's most iconic designs, covering pre-owned pieces with Jeffrey's distinctive graphic motifs and abstract, quasi-psychedelic patterns.