Keith Murray

Who was Keith Murray?

Keith Day Pearce Murray was a New Zealand born architect and designer who worked as a ceramics, glass and metalware designer for Wedgwood in the Potteries area of Staffordshire in the 1930s and 1940s. He is considered one of the most influential designers of the Art deco style.

Murray was born in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden. His father, John Murray was from Scotland and his mother Lillian was from Nelson, New Zealand. The family emigrated to England when he was 14. He graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London in 1921. However a lack of work forced him to make a living as an illustrator for magazines. In 1928 he held his own show at Le Levre Gallery in London but this was not to prove his passion.

His visits to exhibitions such as the 1925 Exposition in Paris, and the 1931 Exhibition of Swedish Industrial Art in London inspired Murray to seek out opportunities to design vases and tablewares for factory production, and as the depression of the early 1930s further reduced the demand for architecture he became a full-time designer.

Murray first approached Arthur Marriott Powell about the possibility of working in Whitefriars Glass in London. Though his ideas proved unsuitable for their style of glass, he worked as a freelance designer at Stevens & Williams of Brierley Hill in the West Midlands in 1932. The trial pieces were shown in London that year and the 'Keith Murray range' was produced. Between 1932 and 1939 he produced over 1200 designs though many were only issued in quantities of six or twelve. In 1932 he also began working 2–3 months a year for the Wedgwood pottery. His designs in metal were created for Mappin and Webb.