Louise Powell

Ada Louise Powell, née Lessore (March 1882 – 30 September 1956), was a British designer. Her illustrious family included her grandfather Émile Lessore, a free hand designer for Wedgwood, and her sister Thérèse Lessore. Her father, Jules Lessore, also decorated pottery but was primarily a marine painter, he had exhibitions at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon.^[1] Powell studied calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. "She became highly skilled and well known, illuminating some of William Morris’ incomplete work, and extending her interests to decorative designs and the painting of furniture for Ernest Grimson".^[2] Ada thus had historical family connections to the arts and to Wedgwood, however after her father died in 1892 her progression in the arts was perhaps more indebted to the encouragement and aligned interests of her mother and siblings. Her sister, Thérèse Lessore, was a painter and founder member of the London Group and who decorated Wedgwood blanks in the 1920s and her brother Frederick was a portrait sculptor who opened the Beaux Arts Gallery. Ada Louise married Alfred Hoare Powell on Thursday, 6 September 1906 and, in their ceramic works, they developed an artistic partnership.