Teapot with saucer from Tea for Two service

As modernism took hold English potteries employed artists to keep their wares up-to-date for consumers in the nascent era of planned obsolescence, when new styles replaced old on an ever-faster basis. The colorful abstraction of Art Deco, introduced to a global audience at the Paris Universal Exposition of Decorative Arts in 1925, was embraced in England by designers such as Susie Cooper and Eric Slater; the latter's teapot for a tea service features bold sunburst patterns radiating across the white teapot with a stepped lid and angular handle and spout. The playful but abstract design was of-the-moment but appealing to a middle-class market, especially for morning tea.