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Catwalk fashion and ceramicsmight seem unlikely bedfellowsbut when you walk into PaulCostelloe's fashion store in theexpensive Knightsbridge area ofLondon you can see the common

denominator between the two media.Costelloe's clothes for the coming season arecream, taupe, white, oatmeal, in texturalfabrics such as linen and tweed. His ceramicsfor Wedgwood, currently being rolled out intostores, are in similar neutral tones and seek toreplicate through their shape and glazes thattextured appearance.

This colour scheme isn't just about fashion:you can tell Costelloe actually likes it, sincethe theme is even carried over into Costelloe'sown environment: his office, dominated by ahuge kitchen-style stripped pine table, hascream painted walls, stripped wood beams andwood-framed mirror and an oatmeal carpetthat is too well-worn to have been a recentpurchase.

The link between the media of clothing andceramics is, he says, more obvious than mightat first be apparent. Fashion designers areused to frequent change and can thus adapttheir style into other product types. And, hebelieves, good creative ideas can be expandedinto any medium.

But a designer changing media must beclearly focused yet flexible and prepared totake advice. 'There's nothing worse thansomeone who thinks they know about anindustry but knows nothing.'

Costelloe's clothing is, he says, 'soft,informal, elegant and easy to wear' and he hadthis effect in mind when in 1998 heapproached Wedgwood to suggest developinga range of ceramics. He chose Wedgwoodpartly because of what he had seen of thecompany's products ('few manufacturers havethe same quality of finishes') and partly, as anIrishman himself, because of WaterfordWedgwood's own Irish provenance.

The relationship with Wedgwood, he says,is working well, with Costelloe having found tohis pleasure that ceramic manufacturersappear to be 'more open to ideas and lessopinionated' than their counterparts in theclothing business.

He liaises on a day-to-day basis with thecompany's head of design, Jill Sharrock, andwith designer Simon Stevens. 'Theyunderstand my philosophy, what I like anddon't like. We think very similarly, and thatmakes the work enjoyable, and when you enjoysomething you'll do it well.'

As one of seven children and the father ofseven children, Costelloe's orientation towardstableware is geared to the family. 'Ceramicsshouldn't be fussy - you don't want to overgildthe lily. The food is the art and the plate shouldbe the frame for it. I love the idea of havingitems that are multifunctional so that if youbreak one item you can just use another for thesame purpose.'

The target consumer for his ceramics issimilar to that for his clothing: 'free, easy,modern, informal'. The two sets of consumersalso have similar purchasing patterns. 'Theymight initially buy one item of clothing and -then you build up brand loyalty. In ceramics,

SUSAN FENTON meets fashion

designer Paul Costelloe, the man

behind Wedgwood's new range of

over-sized, neutral-toned ceramics

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From casualwear to casualware

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I've tried to give each item acharacter of its own so that animpulse buyer can start by buyingjust one plate.'

Costelloe has a quiet, modestmanner (he showed an almostchildlike pleasure and surprisethat people should be prepared topay as much as they do for aCostelloe outfit). So when hesuddenly refers to hisappreciation of women's bodies itis rather unexpected. What hemeans, he hastens to add, is thathis skills in making women'sclothing have particular relevanceto ceramics. 'As a fashiondesigner, I have been accustomedto working with the female bodyso I am used to form, balance and

proportion. I'm very comfortablewith that.'

Texture is the main thing forCostelloe: 'The material shouldfeel good, should be tactile. That'seven more important than theshape.' For instance, Costelloewanted enough pattern in theWedgwood range to suggest atexture, yet not so much that itbecame obvious or swamped theform. 'I wanted the pattern to lookas though it was hardly there atall. Achieving this subtlety isquite hard.'

Costelloe's attitude to formalware is the same as it is to formalwear in fashion. He showed mehis new collection of casualdayware with enthusiasm butpassed quickly over the eveningwear, which clearly holds lessinterest for him. As for eveningwear's tabletop equivalent, hesays, 'There's always a place forformal, but it's not me. I want todevelop the informal side further.'

But he can see his designsbeing used in a 'semi-formal'context. 'You can use the sameproduct but display it differently

for different occasions. All it takesis lighting and table linen andtable decoration. It's about peoplehaving the confidence to use theirown interpretation of the pieces.'

How much real creativefreedom can a designer havewhen working with the technicallimitations of a functionalproduct? Costelloe says: 'Ceramicdesign is a very disciplinedmedium: in this sense I'm not acreator as such, I'm a commercialdesigner. The only time I expressmyself in a non-commercialmanner is when I'm painting.That's total freedom.'

Costelloe predicts problemsfor the design industry as studentscontinue to graduate skilled insurface pattern but with little ideaof the technicalities of production.'In the fashion industry, forinstance, few designers can sewproperly. There are not enoughtalented craftspeople about.'

He admits he was himself a

printing techniques. The 18-inchplatter is the largest thing we havemade in a long time. Paul had avision of what he wanted to seeand it was quite a challenge to getit to the market. There were thingshe wanted that we couldn't do, butthere were also things we thoughtwe couldn't do that, byexperimenting, we found we couldachieve after all.'

The Costelloe/Wedgwoodrelationship is mutuallybeneficial: for Wedgwood's part,it continues the established policyof working with well-knownnames in design, to enhance thecompany's reputation as a luxurygoods brand; for Paul Costelloe itexposes his brand to a widermarket.

The range is being developedfurther and more items will belaunched at the FrankfurtAmbiente next spring. Inparticular, buyers are likely to seenon-ceramic ware such as cutlery

Costelloe on retailing

y a retailer himself (as well as his own flagship store, heias concessions in several major London stores andraiichise shops throughout the UK), Paul Costelloe

has firm ideas about how tabletop should be presented.'Some large high street stores — Heals, Habitat, the

Coiiran shop - are doing it very well, and David Mellor has arefreshing formula that is stimulating and young. But thereare a lot of tableware retailing enviromnents that are alien tome in terms of presentation. The product should shout"Touch me, feel me!".

'I would take away all the packaging and present theproduct in a more lifestyle way. Packaging is important but itcomes later: the consumer wants to receive the product in anice box, but the first five seconds in store is vital inanswering the question: "is this me or is it something mygrandmother would buy?"

'The benchmark to me as a consumer is that the displaymakes a possibly expensive product come alive. It doesn'tmean spending a lot of money on display, it meanssimplifying.'

technical novice when he starteddesigning ceramics, but that hadcertain benefits. 'Because I comefrom outside the industry, I haveno preconceptions. I don't have aclue what's technicallyimpossible. That's up toWedgwood to tell me.'

Consequently, the Costelloerange's emphasis on over-sizedpieces and new shapes has meantadapting traditional productiontechniques. Costelloe happilyadmits: 'I think I've stretchedWedgwood's manufacturingcapabilities to the limit.'

Wedgwood's UK wholesalefield sales manager, PhilMatthews, says: 'We had todevelop new glaze finishes, new

and textiles under the PaulCostelloe name, possibly sourcedfrom other Irish manufacturers.

In the meantime, sales in theso-far limited distributionchannels are doing well andWedgwood has high hopes for therange. 'The biggest compliment Ican pay Paul is that a lot ofWedgwood staff are drinking theircoffee out of his mugs,' saysMatthews.

'There's never a more cynicalaudience than a potterycompany's own employees andthey are picking the product upand using it with noencouragement from us, whichmakes us feel that we're onto awinner.' fl

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