ALISON CROOSE Fermoy Gallery, King's Lynn (King's Lynn Festival)

ALISON CROOSE

Fermoy Gallery, King's Lynn (King's Lynn Festival)

Dr Graham Cooley has spent 10 years trawling jumble and car boot sales for the distinctive West German ceramics which adorned homes in the 1960s and 1970s - and were thrown out in the 1980s.

He has amassed more than 600 pieces and used most of them to create an eye-catching display which forms the principal King's Lynn Festival exhibition at the town's Arts Centre.

Dr Cooley is attracted by the excessive forms and colour which look set to enjoy a renaissance as they start to reappear in interior design.

The ceramics are difficult to define because of their huge diversity, ranging from sturdy floor vases in vivid scarlet to sleek jugs in muted brown, all in a variety of finishes and textures. Then there are the delicate mosaic styles and colours of Italian work.

En masse for the first time they produce a blaze of colour and form, the intriguing consequence of one man's single-minded enthusiasm. His private collection includes the King's Lynn Glass which formed the 2004 Festival exhibition.

Love them or hate them, there is no denying that more than 500 pieces of ceramics form a dramatic and fascinating exhibition which demands attention.