'The Cube'

This teapot, marketed as 'THE CUBE', was designed as non-drip, non-chip and easily stacked. It was widely used on transatlantic ocean liners, railways and in hotels and restaurants and was the world's largest selling patented teapot. Robert Crawford Johnson patented The Cube teapot in 1917 and it was still in use on the QE2 in the 1980s. Ths teapot is not only an iconic design, with its distinctive art deco profile, but also bears testimony to the British obsession with tea drinking and the desire of many British ceramic designers to create the perfect pourable and storeable teapot.

Teapot and cover · Leicester · 1926. earthenware, press-moulded; transfer printed in underglaze green, painted with green enamel and gilded. By Cube Teapots Ltd.. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.