Gordon Mitchell Forsyth RI ARCA (1879–1952) was a distinguished ceramics designer and potter. The pivotal role that he played in British ceramic design has inspired some to call him 'the magus of the mid-twentieth century pottery industry'. Born in Fraserburgh, he studied at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, followed by the Royal College of Art. He moved to Stoke-on-Trent in 1903 and became art director at the tileworks of Minton Hollins & Co. Three years later he moved to the same position at Pilkington’s Tile and Pottery Company near Manchester. He returned here after serving in the First World War. Following this he took up teaching, including at Stoke and Burslem Schools of Art, and was tutor to a number of notable students including Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead.
Forsyth's defining and innovative artistic vision was one that sought to close the gulf between studio craft and commercial manufacturing. He was the leading theorist in the ceramics industry in the 1920s; like Roger Fry and the Omega Workshops, he advocated a new form of pottery, declaring in 1921 that only by art could the pottery industry gain 'fresh ground and find new fields to conquer'. His 1925 essay on industry pre-figured the ideas in Herbert Read's seminal 'Art and Industry' of 1934. Forsyth advocated high artistic ideals as the route to innovate industrial practice: 'Art is not only a reflection of current thought, but vital Art is usually just ahead of its time and an indication of future developments. It is a kind of intellectual measure whereby we can assess the quality of any civilisation'.
Gordon Forsyth was also an innovator in art education, developing Burslem School of Art as a direct training ground for moving into the design studios of the pottery industry. In 1936 Quentin Bell (son of Vanessa and Clive Bell) went to Stoke on Trent to learn about pottery and was influenced there by Forsyth.
