Creamer from -Tea for Two- service c. 1930

The Creamer from the -Tea for Two- service was designed by Eric Slater, but we do not know when. Here is a piece of the design from a tea service that attempts to create something modern in an era defined by mass production. The streamlined form, with its angular handle, reflects a fascination with speed and the machine age in Western Europe during the early 20th century. Yet the hand-painted geometric designs also reflect the individual craftsmanship associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, which rejected industrialization and celebrated traditional skills. To understand this work better, we can research the history of design reform movements in England. We should ask ourselves how artists like Slater were trying to reconcile the aesthetics of modernism with the values of an earlier era. This tea service can thus tell us much about the social and cultural anxieties of its time.