When it comes to the impure aesthetics of postmodernism – with its unpredictable collisions of form, pattern, image and allusion – Peter Shire is as pure as they come. The Californian ceramist, sculptor, and designer helped to invent the postmodern style in the early 1970s, and delivered some of its quintessential statements in the ‘80s, notably as the only American core member of the Memphis design group. Alongside the angular sculptural teapots that have always been central in his oeuvre, he has made furniture, sculpture, and public art. Today, at the age of 72 and half a century after first establishing his voice, he remains a vibrant creative force.