Design Moment: Nicholas Mosse jug, 1980

The spongeware produced by Nicholas Mosse pottery is very different now to this simple jug made in the early 1980s, one of the first produced by the then fledgling company in Kilkenny. Now the enormously popular biscuit-coloured spongeware pieces are decorated – still by hand – with more elaborate and colourful motifs. This heavy water jug – it even looks heavy – is rustic in appearance and feel, a faded grainy grey colour with blue detailing. The distinctive bird motif is sparingly used on the saltglaze vessel – just enough to give it a decorative appeal without any sense of overwork – or worse – cuteness. As each piece is hand-made and so even if the pattern is the same, each is unique. Mosse’s business grew out of his long training as a potter – in the UK, France and Japan – and he was originally inspired by 18th-century Irish spongeware, of which there is a long tradition, when he set up his pottery on the banks of the river Nore in an old flour mill. The technique is as simple as the design – a shaped piece of sponge or cloth is dipped in colour and applied to the pot or plate. Its widespread use in the 18th century shows the appeal of decorative objects and the urge to decorate even the simplest table items.