Clarice Cliff was born in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, and left school at 13 to start work in one of the local firms, like so many young women her age in The Potteries. Unlike many of her contemporaries who aimed to master a single skill, though, she moved  to different jobs so that she could acquire a wide range of artistic and design experience. In 1916 she started working for A. J. Wilkinson's Royal Staffordshire Pottery in Middleport, Burslem, and in 1927 she was given her own studio and her famous 'Bizarre' collection was launched.