Studio Szeiler Ltd marks

About Studio Szeiler Ltd

( See sources ) Figure manufacturer in earthenware at Hanley (c.1951-55) and the Chelsea Works, Burslem from c.1957-1986. Joseph Szeiler was born in Hungary in 1924. By 1948 he had come to Britain to work as a coal miner. Finding no work he moved to Stoke-on-Trent and took a jobs in a number of potteries. Szeiler then worked for a Mr C. S. Lancaster - a local modeller - at this time Szeiler also attended the Burslem School of Art during the evenings.

In 1951 he rented a room in a property near Lichfield Street, Hanley, where he started in business as a potter on his own account. The ware was fired in the kiln of a local tilery about a mile away. To support his growing business Szeiler needed his own kiln and bigger premises and so in 1955, he bought the Chelsea Works, Moorland Road, Burslem. For a period he retained the Lichfield Street workshop which produced ware to be fired at the Chelsea Works.

In 1957 Joseph Szeiler became a naturalised British citizen. Studio Szeiler produced tableware and giftware but specialised in animal figures which were modelled by Joseph Szeiler himself or by Joseph J Ferenczy, who found his way to England after fleeing Hungary in World War Two. Ferenczy read an article in the Pottery Gazette about Joseph Szeiler and travelled to Stoke-on-Trent, taking on a prominent role in the company.