Susan Williams-Ellis receives Honorary Degree

Now one of the UK's most respected companies, the origins of Portmeirion Potteries were more humble. Susan, with her husband, Euan, set up business in 1953, when they took over a souvenir shop in the Welsh village of Portmeirion. Despite the unique architectural status of the village, created by Susan's father, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, the souvenir shop was making a loss. In just eight years Susan's shop had grown enormously; she and her husband were managers of the Village and a second Portmeirion shop had opened in one of London's smartest shopping areas, Pont Street.

Working on Sir Clough's principle that 'good design is good business' the couple transformed two broken-down potteries in Stoke-on-Trent into one of the country's most affluent pottery companies. In an era when the idea of the 'working woman' was an anathema, the entrepreneurial success of Susan Williams-Ellis, as a designer and a businesswoman (as well as wife and mother) was unprecedented.

Born in the house of British art critic Roger Fry, Susan's family had strong links with many of the stars of early twentieth century art and design. As her father was an eminent architect, her parents were at the epicentre of the Bloomsbury set, with an array of friends including Frank Lloyd-Wright, Lytton Strachey, Augustus John and Virginia Woolf. With such company it was not surprising that Susan was determined to be an artist from an early age. She studied ceramics with Bernard and David Leach at Dartington, then at Chelsea Art School her tutors included Graham Sutherland for painting and Henry Moore for Sculpture, who helped to develop Susan's innate feeling for three dimensional shape and form, which she translated into seminal ceramic designs such as Totem, Samarkind, Magic City and the world-famous Botanic Garden.

Susan's Acceptance Speech

First I have to apologise to the members of Keele University for my inability to acknowledge in person the great honour that is being bestowed on me today. This is the result of a tiresome accident.

However, my daughter, Anwyl, who is much less unaccustomed than I am to public speaking, and has a PhD, had kindly agreed to read this message.

I am greatly pleased with this crowning triumph to all my academic achievements. The list of which is, I am sorry to say, somewhat negative:

1. I never passed the eleven plus
2. I never gained a single 'O' level, though I do have O-group blood
3. I never of course got an 'A' level, or any school certificate
4. I spent four years at the Chelsea Polytechnic Art school, but never gained what they called a Testimony of Study.

So, until this memorable day, I have lived with no academic qualification whatsoever. It can be said, however, that I have never failed an exam - a simple achievement if you never take any!

I believe, therefore, that today's honour is a greater step for me, than it can be for almost all of the other recipients of honorary degrees from your University, and I am most grateful for, what is to me, a unique distinction. I look forward, after recovering from my present indisposition, to visiting Keele, and meeting some of those whom have so kindly honoured me.