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New film starring Bridgerton's Phoebe Dynevor puts trailblazing Art Deco designer and craftswoman Clarice Cliff back in the spotlight

Best known for her ceramic pieces characterised by bold outlines and a vivid colour palette, Cliff was initially derided by the men who dominated her industry

As a young child, it was my job to lay the table whenever we visited my grandmother’s home. My introduction to ceramics came as I put out her everyday Poole Pottery service, a pale turquoise dual-tone affair with a dolphin backstamp on the reverse. But sometimes I would sneak a look at the top shelf of her kitchen dresser and my eyes would be drawn to The Tea Set That Was Never Used—a jaunty collection of angular, inverted conical shapes for the cups and matching pots, jug and sugar bowl, in a daring clash of orange and blue hues. “That is Clarice Cliff,” my grandmother told me. “She was a very famous designer once upon a time.”

Outside ceramic and pottery circles, the name of Clarice Cliff may not be so well known these days but Caspian Films’s new drama, The Colour Room, directed by Claire McCarthy from a screenplay by Claire Peate, is bringing Cliff’s achievements back into the spotlight. Best known for her Art Deco-inspired pieces, characterised by bold outlines and a vivid colour palette, Cliff’s quirky angular shapes were initially derided by the men who dominated the industry. However, she soon proved there was a market for her designs, becoming the first British woman to become a head designer and later having her own factory. At its height, between the wars, her business sold 8.4 million items, including tea sets, jazz-age figurines and her signature Yo Yo vases, to Australia, New Zealand and the US.

“The film captures the atmosphere of the time brilliantly,” says the potter Emma Bailey. “I heard stories from my grandparents, who also worked in the industry, and it was a world devoid of colour. And then this young woman came along and turned the industry upside down.” Bailey started off painting Cliff reproductions for Wedgwood and has been described as her heir. She brushes this off and says she designs what she feels. But, she adds: “It is like Clarice is in me.”

It was a world devoid of colour. Then this young woman came along and turned the industry upside down

Emma Bailey, potter

The Colour Room, with Phoebe Dynevor, one of the stars of the racy Netflix period drama Bridgerton, as Cliff, alongside David Morrissey and Matthew Goode, focuses on Cliff’s early life and career that began when she left school at 13 to start work as an enameller at a local factory near Stoke-on-Trent, the huddle of six English towns at the heart of the area known as The Potteries. It was the centre of the ceramic industry and many commercial producers as well as smaller studios still have a presence there today.

Noted for its huge bottle kilns—the standard bearers for the area’s ambition for Unesco World Heritage Site status that are seen at the beginning of the film belching black smoke—The Potteries is a fine example of the UK’s industrial as well as artistic heritage. In the 1920s, the whole area was choked with smoke and grit, says Bailey. In this monochrome world, it is no wonder that the young Clarice stood out. The film’s producer Thembisa Cochrane and her team went to great lengths to recreate an authentic landscape, filming at Middleport Pottery, where we first meet Cliff. She bursts onto the screen in a glorious teal coat, as if to insist she would not allow herself—or her revolutionary ideas—to blend into the sooty surroundings. This and the film’s other striking costumes are by Anushia Nieradzik, who is also a painter—a combination deliberately harnessed by the production team, Cochrane says.

Specialist advice on the film came from one of the world’s foremost experts on Cliff, the auctioneer Will Farmer, who is the ceramics and glass expert on the BBC’s Sunday-evening staple Antiques Roadshow. Eagle-eyed Roadshow watchers may also spot his cameo performance in an early scene. Farmer was joined by the ceramicist and lecturer Louise Adams—granddaughter of John Adams of Poole Pottery fame—who, with her partner Mark Delf, was the on-set modeller and sculptor. This meant that a full artistic team was able to coach the cast, who needed to be able to handle clay convincingly. Delf was also responsible for the reproduction of Cliff’s bust of the first wife of her employer, Colley Shorter. He commissioned the bust from her when he became aware of her talents—he saw potential in Cliff’s eye for colour and her business savvy. Cliff and Shorter later married, and their affair is a key element of The Colour Room’s story.

news from

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/12/22/a-cliff-face-portrait-of-a-pioneering-ceramicist

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FMC Completes Meetings with Ocean Carriers Regarding Export Services

The imbalance between U.S. imports and exports and the repeated complaints from manufacturers and the agricultural sector in the United States over the inability to export their goods continue to be the driving force for new efforts to examine the ocean carriers' export services. In the latest report from the Federal Maritime Commission, they indicate that the staff is moving forward “expeditiously” with the efforts to examine how key ocean carriers are serving U.S. export shippers.

Repeated complaints from the export community are driving the FMC’s actions along with new initiatives working their way through the U.S. Congress. The concerns of exporters are a key part of the pending legislative reform to the Ocean Shipping Act. After passing both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, the bill is currently awaiting a conference committee to address differences between the two versions of the bill. However, having gained broad bipartisan support the bill is expected to move forward into a final form and reach President Biden for his signature.

The FMC, however, has not been waiting for the new authorities it will be granted when the bill becomes law as well as the elements of the bill focusing on revising the export operations of the ocean carriers. In March, at the direction of FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei, the commission staff began a sweeping review of exports and the actions of the ocean carriers.

“Helping U.S. export shippers is my top priority as Chairman and I will ask my fellow Commissioners and Commission staff to utilize the full extent of our authority to ensure American agricultural producers and manufacturers reach overseas markets,” says Maffei.

This week, the staff completed the first phase of the review which is being undertaken by the Commission’s Vessel Operating Common Carrier (VOCC) Audit Program. This included the first round of meetings with 11 shipping lines. On April 19, representatives of CMA CGM, COSCO, HMM, Yang Ming and Zim were scheduled to appear at the FMC. This followed earlier appearances by representatives of carriers including MSC, Hapag, ONE, OOCL, Evergreen and Matson. In each meeting, the staff discussed recent trends in carrier export numbers, placing a particular focus on agricultural exports.  

“The information the Audit Team is gathering from the shipping lines will be invaluable in identifying what carriers are doing well in carrying exports and where we must push carriers to do more,” says Maffei.

While the staff is expected to continue to engage ocean carriers on export issues to gain better insight into market trends and performance as it relates to exports, the audit team is expected to present initial findings from the interviews to the FMC at a meeting later this spring.

These are part of a comprehensive initiative underway by the FMC to encourage the ocean carrier industry to increase export service. The commission has also taken steps to improve its exporter assistance services. In addition, the Bureau of Enforcement launched an examination of five independent ocean carriers calling at U.S. ports to determine if their conduct related to the export trades is compliant with U.S. statutes. The chairman has also placed a priority on all cases involving exporters.

The monthly reports for ports around the U.S. high the urgency to focus on exports. The U.S.’s busiest port, Los Angeles, reported as of March 2022, exports have declined for 37 of the last 41 months. In March 2022, loaded exports represented just one percent of the containers moving through Los Angeles with other major U.S. container ports reporting similarly low numbers for loaded exports.

Credit : https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/fmc-completes-meetings-with-ocean-carriers-regarding-export-services

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Ever Forward refloating to be attempted on Tuesday

An attempt to refloat the Ever Forward will be made on Tuesday over two weeks after the containership grounded in Chesapeake Bay.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) said that it along with Maryland Department of the Environment and Evergreen Marine Corporation, and multiple state and local responders, would attempt to refloat the vessel at noon (local time) on Tuesday 29 March.Salvors have undertaken over a week of dredging operations to help free the stricken vessel which grounded after sailing from the port of Baltimore. Poor weather at the end of last week caused a delay in plans to refloat the vessel.

A 500 metre safety zone around the vessel will be extended to 1,000 metres from noon on Tuesday during the refloat operations.“The public should anticipate one-way traffic at a reduced safe speed to resume at midnight or at the discretion of the Captain of the Port following the refloat attempt,” USCG said.

Ensuring the ship’s stability, and monitoring for potential pollution continue to be top priorities of the unified command and responders.”Should the operation be unsuccessful further dredging around the Ever Forward will be carried out with a second attempt made to refloat the vessel on 3 April.The 12,000 teu, 2020-built Ever Forward grounded 13 March in the Chesapeake Bay near Craighill Channel after sailing from the Port of Baltimore bound for Norfolk, Virginia.The grounding captured public attention and imagination coming almost a year after the Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal on 23 March 2021 blocking the key waterway for six days and causing havoc in global supply chains.

Credit : https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/ever-forward-refloating-be-attempted-tuesday

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Discover pottery and a mysterious culture

Archaeologists from the Far Eastern Federal University with the Russian Institute of Archeology and Ethnology Ecuala University, Superior Polytechnica del Litoral in Ecuador and Tohoku University in Japan report analyzes of the remains of ceramic clay vessels unearthed at an archaeological site. Real Alto in Ecuador

The research team used radioactive carbon dating from ancient containers. The results of the analysis indicated that These pottery remains date from 4640-4460 BC. And it is associated with the early culture of the Real Alto archaeological site, where this mysterious culture existed around the same time as the Valdivia culture, or cultures along the Ecuadorian coast. It is one of the oldest pottery cultures in North and South America.

The discovery prompted the research team to dig for artifacts created during the unknown culture. If more numbers are found, it may help to define cultural development conditions more precisely. It will also help to understand the process of parallel development of Pacific Ocean communities.

Credit: FEFU press office

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FMC and USDA Targeting Improving Exports from U.S. Ports

PUBLISHED MAR 21, 2022 6:30 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

With complaints continuing that the ocean carriers have made it difficult for American companies to export their goods, regulators are increasing their pressure on carriers to ensure they are providing export services. The Federal Maritime Commission reports that it is expanding its audit program launched last summer to explore export issues while the U.S. Department of Agriculture is continuing its focus on providing more support to shippers.

The issue of exports has been one of the points of contention for months with many shippers saying that carriers are so anxious to get back to Asia that they are making it costly and difficult to export U.S. goods. They highlight the massive cargoes of empty containers being rushed to Asia which they say is at the expense of exports. They are also saying that port congestion and schedule pressures have prompted carriers to skip ports, especially in northern California meaning that growers would have to truck products hundreds of extra miles and into the congestion that has been backing up the southern California ports.

“American exporters deserve access to ocean transportation to sell to international markets every bit as much as overseas sellers get access to U.S. markets,” said FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei announcing the expansion of the Vessel-Operating Common Carrier Audit Program to also evaluate how shipping lines are serving U.S. export shippers. “If the shipping companies continue the cooperative attitude they have by and large shown the Audit Team to date, I am confident we can make progress on some of the issues that have frustrated exporters.”

The FMC is not waiting for the U.S. Congress which has also been focusing on the issue of exports both in its subcommittee hearings as well as the efforts to reform the Ocean Shipping Act. Chairman Maffei added the instruction to the audit teams for the emphasis on carrier export performance and service. Ocean carriers are now being asked to share information about the export services they offer American shippers with the FMC reporting that they will be meeting with 11 carriers to discuss their export programs.

A focus of the FMC’s expanded efforts will include shipping companies that do not traditionally operate in U.S. trade lanes, but entered the marketplace the FMC believes in response to historically high rates shippers are paying to import cargo to the United States. The companies in question will provide specific information related to vessel calls they have made to the United States since June 2021, including the number of loaded and empty containers carried on a ship’s return journey to Asia.  

“All ocean carriers calling the United States have an equal obligation to conduct themselves in accordance with the law,” said Maffei. “New entrants to the market—including the so-called pop-up carriers—have all the same responsibilities as companies that have served the U.S. trades for decades. We are especially interested in how the identified companies plan to serve the U.S. export market and how those business models comply with requirements under the statute.”

The information collected in these audits, the FMC believes will provide better insight into not only market trends and performance, but where opportunities exist for individual lines to improve or increase access to service offerings.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Northwest Seaport Alliance which operates the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to enhance access to a 49-acre “pop up” site to accept either dry agricultural or refrigerated containers for temporary storage at NWSA in Seattle. The new effort is designed to reduce operational hurdles and costs, meaning that containers with ag exports can be loaded quicker on ships at the export terminals.

This effort is similar to a program launched at the Port of Oakland in California early in 2022 where growers were reporting hurdles to shipping export containers. The USDA reports that it is partnering with the Northwest Seaport Alliance because it has seen a nearly 30 percent decline in the export of agricultural commodities in the last six months of 2021. USDA will be working in partnership with the NWSA’s existing near-dock facility at Terminal 46 in Seattle and the Farm Service Agency will make payments to agricultural companies and cooperatives that preposition containers filled with American-grown agricultural commodities at the “pop-up” temporary site at the Port of Seattle.

Thank. to

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/fmc-and-usda-targeting-improving-exports-from-u-s-ports

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