It may surprise many that Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, the venerable English firm known for traditional ceramic wares, including blue and white jasper and black basalt, also produced Fairyland Lustre, a range of designs depicting a fanciful world of imaginary creatures. The artistic director responsible for the series was Susannah “Daisy” Makeig-Jones, a colorful, creative and sometimes eccentric character. She joined the company in 1909 as an apprentice in the painting department and two years later was given her own design studio.

Her first designs appeared in 1914 with the introduction of “Ordinary Lustre” depicting butterflies, fish, dragons and hummingbirds, many based on Chinese and Japanese ceramics. They were an enormous success, and the public clamored for even more inventive designs. Her response was a line of 62 designs known as “Fairyland Lustre”—brilliantly colored vessels decorated with elves, imps and pixies in idealized landscapes and gnarled forests.

Much of her inspiration came from illustrated books of the period. A particular favorite was The Colour Fairy Books, a series of popular children’s books written by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford that appeared between 1889 and 1910. Makeig-Jones also recalled stories, myths and fairy tales from her childhood to which she added her own idiosyncratic interpretations.

“She seems to have preferred the grotesque and freakish denizen in fairyland,” writes Una des Fontaines in her 1975 book Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre, the most authoritative work on the subject. “Very seldom do the ‘pretty pretty’ fairies make an appearance in her designs.”

“Poplar Trees,” the first Fairyland Lustre design, was unique since it combined two complementary designs: The exterior is an empty landscape in pastel colors under a swirling black and gold sky; the interior most frequently depicts fairies and elves entangled in a threatening cobweb. This introduced the good-versus-evil theme that echoed throughout her work. She envisioned the two forces in a continuing struggle through time with neither side the victor.

Fairyland Lustre’s most popular design, “Bubbles,” was based on Japanese mythology. As Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, pours holy water over the earth, it creates bubbles containing children, which are seized by a dragon. Another benevolent goddess descends to marry the dragon and tame his ways. Although the tale has a happy ending, Makeig-Jones chose to illustrate the moment when the bubbles rising to the surface are watched by the malevolent dragon.

“Imps on a Bridge” is the one Fairyland Lustre design that could be described as charming. It depicts a procession of child-like fairies in a colorful fantasy setting. With rounded tummies and wispy hair, these delightful little creatures were inspired by the Kewpie Doll created by American artist Rose O’Neill and popularized in England around 1917.