Most of the young women in the Staffordshire Potteries would continue working in the area of the task they had first mastered in order to raise their income above the rate of 'apprentice wages'.

Cliff chose not to follow this traditional path; instead she acquired many skills, such as modeling figurines and vases, gilding, keeping pattern books, and hand-painting ware.

In the early 1920s, decorating manager Jack Walker brought Cliff to the attention of one of the factory owners, Arthur Colley Austin Shorter.

[7] Eventually, Cliff's wide range of skills was recognized, and in 1927 she was given a studio at the adjoining Newport Pottery, which Arthur Colley Austin Shorter had bought in 1920.

These dates are recorded in the Royal College of Art archive and were also remembered by Gladys Scarlett in 1982,[8] as she was briefly left alone at Newport to paint the new 'Bizarre' ware.

Starting in 1927, Cliff was credited for shapes she designed, such as her Viking Boat flower holder, though her modeling for the factory is recorded in the trade journal only as far back as 1923–24.

The image shows a conical coffee pot as well as a sugar bowl and cream holder with four triangular feet, another of Cliff's Bizarre shape ideas which proved popular with 1930s customers.

The couple worked closely together on creating awareness of 'Bizarre ware' to catch the attention of buyers in the middle of a major financial depression.

[13] Between 1929 and 1935 Cliff issued a mass of shape ranges, including Conical (see photo below), Bon Jour/Biarritz, Stamford, Eton, Daffodil and Trieste.

In each of these there were tea and coffee ware shapes, but the first two were so popular that biscuit barrels, sugar sifters, bowls and vases were issued to enlarge the range.

The celebrities included "actresses Adrianne Allen, Marion Lorne, Marie Tempest, the BBC presenter Christopher Stone and musical comedy star Bobby Howes".

It was in this article, that Cliff made what has become her most famous quote: "Having a little fun at my work does not make me any less of an artist, and people who appreciate truly beautiful and original creations in pottery are not frightened by innocent tomfoolery.

"[17] Between 1932 and 1934 Cliff was the art director for a major project involving nearly 30 artists of the day (prompted by the Prince of Wales) to promote good design on tableware.

The 'Artists in Industry' earthenware examples were produced under her direction, and the artists included such notable names as Duncan Grant, Paul Nash, Barbara Hepworth, Vanessa Bell, and Dame Laura Knight.

The project 'Modern Art for the Table' was launched at Harrods London in October 1934 but received a mixed response from both the public and the press, though at the same time Cliff's own patterns and shapes were selling in large quantities around the world.

Cliff produced a colourway variation on this by simply changing the trees to shades of blue and pink, and this was then called Rudyard after a local Staffordshire beauty spot.

"[19] This was put into context when he pointed out that in the same period, Susie Cooper, another Staffordshire ceramicist and designer, had "fewer than 20 reviews, all bar one in the trade press".

One picture which shows Cliff informally was taken when a South African stockist of her ware, from Werner Brothers, visited the factory on a buying trip.

The My Garden series issued from 1934 onwards led the way, with small flowers modelled as a handle or base on more rounded shapes.

Other shapes included the 1937 'Raffia' based on traditional basketware by Native Americans, decorated in a similar style to them with small blocks of colour.

In 1940, after the death of Ann Shorter, Colley's wife, he married Cliff and she moved into his home at Chetwynd House on Northwood Lane in Clayton, Staffordshire.

After the war, although Cliff was occasionally nostalgic for the 'Bizarre' years, as witnessed in personal letters to friends, she seemed to be realistic and accepted the commercial taste was for conservative ware.

[22] Much of the postwar production went to Australia, New Zealand or North America, where the taste was for formal ware in traditional English designs such as Tonquin[23] rather than the striking patterns and shapes that had established Cliff's reputation; thus she was never to return to creative work.

Still calling themselves the 'Bizarre girls' even in their mid-1970s and early 1980s Cliff's former painters were delighted in the interest in the pottery they had hand painted 50 years earlier.

The three principal designs produced were Honolulu on a 12-inch Mei Ping vase, Summerhouse on a 13-inch wall plate and a striking version of Umbrellas and Rain on a conical bowl.

A chain of mergers finally led to Wedgwood owning the Clarice Cliff name, and from 1992 to 2002 they too produced a range of reproductions of the highly sought 1930s pieces.

[27] The work of the CCCC culminated with the centenary exhibition Clarice Cliff, the Art of Bizarre at the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.

[31] In 2002, Peter Wentworth-Sheilds and Kay Johnson, the authors of the original 'Clarice Cliff' book from 1976, returned to Britain to lecture at a CCCC event at Christie's, South Kensington.

The world record price for a piece of Clarice Cliff is held by Christie's, South Kensington, London, who sold an 18-inch (460 mm) 'charger' (wall plaque) in the May Avenue pattern[33] for £39,500 in 2004.

[37] In September 2009, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London opened its 'New Ceramics Galleries' and Cliff's work was chosen to be included: "There will be two rooms displaying 20th-century collections.