Lucie Rie and Hans Coper were regarded as prominent British potters of the latter half of the twentieth century, although neither was born in Britain. Both were refugees from Nazism, Rie arriving from Vienna in 1938 and Coper from Germany in 1939. During the war years in London, Rie designed ceramic buttons and jewelry for fashion designers. Later she supplied domestic wares to such sophisticated outlets as Bonniers in New York and Liberty's and Primavera in London. Today, however, it is her more individual works that are most prized. Her elegant shapes limited to bowls, vases, and platters, and the richness and variety of her glazes remain her most notable contributions to modern ceramics.

Hans Coper, on the other hand, had always wanted to be a sculptor. After settling in London, he took work in Rie's studio to make ends meet. From the start, his pots were less conventional than Rie's. Some of his most effective forms recall ancient Cycladic figures. For the most part they are small in scale, yet the works are strong, even monumental—their impact is that of sculpture. Yet they are all vessels, a fact that Coper remained insistent upon. He was first and last a potter.

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