Smiles and Tiles

Kenneth Townsend (1931-99) was a British artist and freelance designer 

based in Hastings. His humorous pictures were utilized by various companies

 to decorate pottery, textiles, children's games, and glass trays.

He also illustrated six books, one of which,the 1968 children's book 

Felix the bald-headed lion, was written by him.

The animals on the tiles of the "Menagerie" series are among Townsend's 

most famous designs. There are around 25 different tile designs,

including the ones shown in this gallery.

The games designed by Townsend look delightful, too...

Marble Fun, a scoring game by Merit

Tiles from Remember, Remember, a memory game by Galt Toys.

As you can see, some of them are very similar to the ceramic tile designs.

Townsend's work is still popular and loved by many, especially in Britain. 

Thanks to Hazel Terry for the discovery, and to the members of the flickr group 

"Lovers of Kenneth Townsend's work" for uploading a majority of the images in this post.