Bucket list

A while ago I stumbled upon this great blog posting My thrifting bucket list revisited again by The Recycle-ista. In it she lists some of the coolest things she found during her years of thrifting (including a wall piece by Curtis Jeré – SO jealous! Maybe his Raindrop pieces should be on my bucket list), and what’s still on her list.

It made me think what would be on MY thrifting bucket list. In my last post I mentioned that I found something from my bucket list: an Ystad candelabra with Kosta Boda glass. I was so happy when I found it. I still have it, and I’ve been enjoying it thoroughly. In fact, it has multiplied: I got a matching green candelabra for my birthday. It automatically puts the orange version as the first item on my bucket list, because what would be better than an entire set? (I couldn’t confirm if these large candle holders also come in blue.. which would be so nice as it’s my favorite color!)

Next item on my list is a piece of the Bojesen Zoo line. They’re so cute! And I love Mid Century Teak. Especially when it is not perfect but used. Wood gets such a nice patina over the years. Last weekend I was extremely lucky, as I stumbled upon not one, but two Bojesen Flag bearers. They’re fully marked, vintage, and well loved, but SO nice. I will keep one in my own collection, and one will be available in the store.

End of September my husband and I are going on holiday in Malta. As we don’t have a car there, I think there won’t be a lot of thrifting, but we are going to Mdina by bus, and I’m guessing there will be some antique stores in Valletta (if you have any tips, let me know!). My dad has been collecting glass for a long time, mainly Scandinavian, but he also has two beautiful fish head vases by Michael Harris for Mdina. I would be thrilled if I could find one in Malta, where they were originally made, so he can add it to his collection.

Fish head vase on the cover of Michael Harris, the book by Mark Hill

Seeing this is my bucket list, it also needs some West German pottery on there. I’ve mentioned before that I collect Roth Keramik. They are still the ultimate Fat lava. Although my aunt and uncle, who also have the thrifting bug, have found not one, not two, but THREE Roth vases in the wild, I never was so lucky. I did find the one below on a flea market, but it is cracked (I still brought it home, because it is one of the rare blue vases!). For my bucket list I don’t mind which color it is, any would be nice :).

I’m a huge fan of Bitossi. Over the years I have found plenty of vases, bowls, and even some animals, but I have never found a clock. There are a lot of cool patterns, so it is difficult to choose. Perhaps the traditional Rimini Blu has my preference, as it is such an iconic and recognizable décor.

Sorry.. not my pic. See source here.

Over the years I have picked up the occasional piece of Rosenthal Flash, designed by Dorothy Hafner. But did you know she also made her own studio ceramics? Especially her teapots are amazing. It seems like most of them were sold in the US, so the chances of finding any here are small, but stranger things have happened.

Sorry, not my pic. See item for sale here

The final item on my list, for now, would be something – anything – by Memphis Milano. I first learned about Memphis and Sottsass during my internship at Christie’s, and it has been true love ever since. The auction I worked on contained a large collection of Memphis Milano items, and they are just amazing. They’re crazy, colorful, fun. So different from anything I had seen before. I saved the money I earned from my internship and bought a Martine Bedin Super Lamp (not the original eighties one from the auction, that was too expensive, but an official re-issue).

The lamp still has pride of place on my granddad’s antique writing desk. Whenever we have people visiting us for the first time it is a great conversation piece.

I know that the chances of finding a piece of furniture, or even a lamp thrifting is extremely small. However, Memphis Milano also made cool pottery, glass, fabrics and jewelry. It might be more realistic to find something like that!

I think I’ll stop here… I could go on for pages, as there are so many cool vintage treasures. But these are the ones that would make my heart skip a beat.

Let me know which items are on your list. I would love to know!

Ceramic Lava

A while ago I showed you two of my favorite pieces from my own collection, two beautiful Ruscha bulls. The bull with the amazing blue/purple glaze was a gift from my parents, the other orange glazed one was actually the first bull in my collection, which I bought in a local auction. This orange glaze is one of my all time favorite glazes ever produced on West-German pottery.

The glaze was produced by Ruscha, designed by Otto Gerharz in 1959. Ruscha called the decor Vulcano; a very apt name indeed, as it reminds me of real lava and vulcanoes, especially because of the fiery orange glaze that is divided by rivers of darker greens. Most examples of this glaze have a lovely organic look and feel, as this isn't a smooth glaze, which contributes even more to the idea of lava.

The "West-Germany historians" often see this glaze as the turning point for West-German pottery. The pre-volcano glazes were typical of the fifties, mostly with pastel colored decorations. They were very pretty, but also a bit meek. 

Vulcano was one of the first daring glazes, which would be the start of two decades of innovative and experimental glazes and forms. Many people say that the dripping of the Vulcano glaze is the first step onto the road of the real Fat Lava glazes that marked the 1970s.

In addition to being the first step on the road to the future, I also feel that the glaze has roots in a long tradition of pottery. The glaze reminds me of the Japanese Raku wares, but also of Chinese oxide glazes.

The glaze isn't in production anymore, as heavy metals were added to make it. I do think that is a good thing, and I hope it will stay that way, because it makes the life of collectors so much easier!

Personally, the thing that draws me to this glaze is the diversity. Every single piece of Vulcano in my collection is different, and all are beautiful. The glaze is so tactile, and organic. The pieces that have a lot of green are stunning, they look like something that could have come from nature. 

Over the years, I was lucky enough to encounter several pieces of Vulcano glaze, and although they are getting more difficult to find, I managed to pick up this great pocket vase this winter. My other current favorite items are the extremely elegant 339 shape, the large 315 and, of course, the bull.

Although I love my collection, there are still two pieces on my wishlist that I hope to add in the coming years: a deer, and the classic 313 pitcher. A girl can hope, right? 

Catching a Christmas Bull by the Horns

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Mine was lovely, with good company, and obviously way too much food! And gifts! As I already mentioned in my previous post, I was giving some vintage gifts, and I also received a stunning vintage gift from my parents: a Ruscha bull!

As I might have mentioned before, most of the West-German pottery pieces that I sell on Etsy come from my own collection. As I live in a smallish apartment in the middle of town, and my collection is rather large, there is no room to display everything (in fact, most of my collection is kindly on show at my parents house), but I still have a  small part of my favorite pieces on view in our own house.

My all-time favorites are still the famous Roth vases, which I will show you another day, but the ceramic bulls, made by Ruscha come at a very close second place.

Ruscha was founded by Rudolph Schardt in 1948, the name is a combination of the first few letters of his first and last name. The factory has been existence from 1948 until 1996, when the name and all the designs were bought by Scheurich. I'm not a 100% if they still do this nowadays, but Scheurich produced the Ruscha designs in the late 1990s and 2000s under the name Ruscha Art.

Two of the most important names (and especially relevant to the bulls and this post) are Otto Gerharz and Kurt Tschörner. Otto Gerharz was the production designer for Ruscha from 1951 until he started Otto Keramik in 1964. He is the man responsible for designing the famous and very desirable 'Vulcano' glaze. Most people see this glaze as the first step towards the later Fat Lava glazes that make West-German pottery so desirable today.

Kurt Tschörner was a designer for Ruscha, who created many of the shapes, including the famous 313 model in 1954. In the 1960s Kurt Tschörner designed a line of animals for Ruscha, including the magnificent bulls, that came in three different models. The model that I have in my collection also came in two different sizes, mine being the larger version.

The catalog, that has been generously made available by Forrest Poston on http://www.ginforsodditiques.com/rus.cat.cover.html shows that a large bull originally cost 45 Deutsche Mark, which was a lot of money back in the days. In comparison, the most expensive décor on a 313 vase was 10,90 DM. In 1966 the average yearly income in Germany was just under 10.000 DM, so spending 45 DM on a ceramic bull, must have been a luxury. Hence, these were probably not sold in large numbers, making them rare nowadays.

So can you imagine how happy I was when I unpacked this gorgeous bull? It has the most beautiful blue and purple shades on a gray background. It's absolutely the prettiest one in my collection. It'll sit very pretty next to my Vulcano glazed bull, that I bought at an auction house a few years ago.

One note of warning when you are thinking about collecting these: I think Ruscha have made these bulls from the 1960s up until they closed in 1996. As they aren't marked, it is (as far as I know) impossible to know if your bull was made in 1969 or 1996. Obviously certain glazes were only used during a certain period (I think the 'vulcano' glaze was only used in the 1960s for example, but I would have to do some more research to verify this), making it possible to date a piece. In addition to that, I have seen some bulls online with the Ruscha Art sticker, meaning they must be post 1996, and made by Scheurich with the original molds (the only other explanation is that Scheurich bought old Ruscha stock and marked them with their label, but I have no confirmation on this, that is just a guess on my side).

Please be aware that some of these bulls are (or at least were for the last few years, I cannot find them on their website anymore) being reproduced by Otto Keramik in several glazes, and can be purchased online, often for a much lower amount than on selling sites. Otto Keramik did not make these to deceive buyers, they are clearly selling these as new on their website. These glazes are rather different from the glazes that Ruscha or even Scheurich used, often much glossier. But I do think it's important information to have before you go out and buy a bull.

Last but not least, I would like to wish you all the best for 2014! I hope it'll be an awesome year, with lots of exciting finds.

This Little Vase Went to the Market

A few weeks ago we decided to expand this little online business of ours to our first market offline. Now, I have been to plenty of markets to buy goodies, but I had never actually been a seller before. Needless to say, I was super excited, but also a tiny bit scared. What if we wouldn't sell anything? What if people don't actually like my beautiful vintage goodies?

The weeks before the fair we went through all the inventory we have, sorting what we wanted to take, deciding on the perfect mix between Fat Lava pottery and other Mid Century items, making price lists, and packing everything carefully. In addition to that there were a million of little things that needed to be arranged, like arranging carrier bags, getting chairs to sit on, assemble enough change, etc., etc.

We decided to go to a special collector's fair near our home town, as we figured we would have a better chance of selling mid century items here than on a general antique fair.

I tried very hard to make my stand as pretty as possible, grouping certain items together, based on era and color. And I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the result!

So how was the experience? Did we sell some beautiful vintage goodies? Of course we did! We had two very good days on Friday (build-up & early bird day) and Saturday, but Sunday was pretty slow for us. We sold more glass than Fat Lava, especially Dutch glass was popular (but that makes sense, as it was a Dutch market).

Some things we learned:

• If your fair has a build-up day, use it. We actually sold the most to early visitors and fellow dealers on this day. And I also scored one very nice bargain myself.
• In addition to that, come early in the morning to the fair. It'll give you some time to re-arrange stuff, and the people looking for the best stuff will be there early as well.
• Don't forget to arrange change, it sucks if you have to ask fellow dealers for it.
• Bring business cards with the address of your online venue.
• Smile!

• Try to make a chat to everyone that stops for your stand, and give people your business card. You brought them with a purpose , and even if people didn't buy something, if they are interested, they might purchase something later.

• Talk to your fellow dealers. It's nice to have a chat, and most of the dealers are willing to share valuable tips & tricks.
• If possible, bring someone to help you. Lugging all these boxes to the stand is heavy work, and you'll need that restroom break at some point during the day.

We'll definitely do this again, as it was a great experience. I still have many, many things to learn, so if you have any more tips, let me know! For now, if you want to check out my goodies, go have a look at www.vaseomania.etsy.com.

Chariots of Fire

Remember the classic Egyptian inspiration for this Uebelacker vase that I wrote about a few weeks ago? Well, I have another German take on the classics for you today!

As we have had amazing autumn weather for the last two weeks, we decided to pick up my parents (who love a bit of antique-hunting themselves - I didn't get this passion from a stranger) and drive to Germany for the last few outdoor markets of this year.

These treasure hunts are what made me start collecting and selling vintage goodies in the first place. The thrill of the find, the feeling of anticipation and excitement on the way to the first market; you never know what you might find. We've had times when we came away with one small vase, but luckily we've also had trips were we returned with a car full of goodies.

This time we found some lovely items, the weather was good, it was great to spend time with my parents, people understood my German, and we had a Bratwurst. What more can one wish for?

One of the most enjoyable finds was this stunning baby blue vase with a décor of horse-drawn chariots, made by Jopeko. We found this beauty on the biggest market of the day, which mostly had people selling new items, and only a few sellers of used items. It is always difficult to predict if this will be the case in Germany, as both types of markets are called Trödelmarkt.

Jopeko 509-18, design from 1958

  

Even though this market didn't seem to be what we were looking for, we still decided to do a quick round, and at the last stand I spotted this vase, standing at the back of the stall. The lady who sold the vase told us that it was given to them by a Greek neighbor, and told them that it was a souvenir from Greece! At that time I couldn't read the markings on the vase, but I was still pretty sure that it was a fifties or sixties vase made by a West-German factory, so I bought it anyway.

When we came home, and it was time to do a bit of research, I found out that the vase is actually marked Foreign on the bottom, and not the usual West-Germany. I'm still wondering if the neighbor did actually buy the vase in Greece and brought it back to Germany, or if he bought it in Germany and didn't tell them or the story was remembered incorrectly.

Greek Amphora, British Museum

My first hunch, based on the shape of the vase, was that it was made by Kreutz or possibly by Jopeko. The sweet folks on the Pottery and Glass forum helped me out again, and they confirmed that it was indeed made by Jopeko. The shape of the vase was designed in 1958. This décor can also be found in black on red, and black on brown, even though in that case the chariots are in relief, and not impressed, as is the case with this example.

The image of horse-drawn chariots was of course based on decorations on ancient Greek and Roman vases, and this masculine, powerful image  was often used on West-German pottery, for example by Ruscha on wall-plaques and by Scheurich on floor vases.

The black on the light blue background works extremely well, and the slender handle make this a very elegant vase. Although the decoration is clearly inspired by the classics, the shape is quite innovative, and very Mid Century Modern.

I would love to hear if you have any clues if the vase might actually have come from Greece, if you have similar stories, please leave a comment!

Serious Business

It was such a nice surprise this afternoon coming home to my beautiful, freshly printed business cards from the wonderful folks at moo.com! My husband has very kindly designed them for me with the versatile and easy tools available at Moo, and they came out wonderful. I love the clean design, and they are printed on pretty, thick, creamy paper

We've put a lot of hours and enthusiasm in the blog and Vase-o-mania shop during the last few weeks, so it is really cool that things starting to look slightly more professional, and thus more real.

I can't wait to be handing these out, it'll be a pleasure to do so. We've been treasure hunting for plenty more Fat Lava pieces and vintage gems to put in the store over the coming weeks, so make sure to check it out!

Spotting UFOs

Whilst preparing some listings for my Etsy market, I came across another vase from my collection that is clearly inspired by the space age from the sixties and seventies, just as the Walther Gerhards UFO vase. In fact, this vase also looks a lot like an UFO! This stunning vase, model 179 17, was made by Dümler & Breiden, probably sometime during the 1960s.

Dümler & Breiden UFO vase

Dümler & Breiden were located in Höhr-Grenzhausen, which lies in the famous Westerwald pottery area, and the company existed from 1883 until 1992. They made pottery that ranges from very traditional to more experimental, even though in my opinion, they never were so innovative (especially shape-wise) as companies such as Roth. The shape of this vase must be one of their more exciting and cutting-edge designs, and is very much by the Space Age.

The Space Age influence is not limited to West-German pottery, but it had a lot of influence on design during the 50s and 60s in general . During this era the first manned crews went into space, and we were aiming for the moon. Even though science fiction movies and books inspired the first spacy designs, the Space Age design-craze got a new impulse with Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite that was launched into an orbit around space in 1957.

Replica of Sputnik 1

 The influence of the space age could be seen everywhere during the fifties and sixties: in architecture (in particular in the famous Googie architecture in the US), in the details of cars, in clothing, and design of televisions and radios, and much, much more. Of course West-German pottery couldn't stay behind! Luckily this resulted in some pretty fun vases, of which this is a great example.

Do you have any cool examples of West-German pottery influenced by the Space Age? Feel free to post them in the comments section, I would love to see them!

I see Vases, they're everywhere!

My husband and I went on holiday to the United States this year. Normally I love to scour the local antique and vintage boutiques for West-Germany vases during my vacation, and if we travel by car, we also love to check out any flea markets in the area for vintage gems, but as we were in the US I figured I wouldn't encounter any items to add to my collection.

Can you imagine my delight when we were shopping for clothes in one of the great American icons, Macy's, in San Francisco and we encountered a display of blue/white/red West-Germany vases? And these weren't some boring old standard vases, most of these were actually really pretty! Sadly the vases weren't buy one get one free, I would have loved to take these home with me!

Orange UFOs

From the first time I picked up one of the vases made by Walter Gerhards KG, they became one of my all-time favorite companies that made West-Germany vases during the sixties and seventies.

A lot of mystery still surrounds this maker, and our knowledge is definitely fragmentary. They were first thought to be called Söndgen, later Kera Keramik, but we only recently found out that the company was actually  called Walter Gerhards KG, and they were located at the epicenter of the German ceramics industry in Ransbach - Baumbach, located in the famous Westerwald area. The company was probably led by Mr. Walter Gerhards himself, as he is listed as the liable person for the company in the companies registry (Handelsregister). They existed only for a short period of time: from 1959 until January 25, 1978, when it was deregistered. During this period the factory apparently produced items under the names "WG Kera Modern" and "WG Exquisite Kera Modern" from 1959 until 1974, and from 1974 until 1978 under the name "Gerhards" and "Gerhards Gmbh". Labels on these vases seem relatively rare, but most vases are marked in a specific way, that can help us recognize them.

Because the company only existed for 19 years, this would logically mean that the output from Walter Gerhards KG is much smaller, and thus rarer, than the output from large and long existing companies like Scheurich or Ruscha.

So why do I love the vases that were made by Walter Gerhards? The ranges produced have strong shapes, that for me are characteristic for the Mid Century Modern period, mostly with sharp angles combined with curved lines.  Some shapes are unlike anything any other company ever made, and they are very innovative.

One of my favorite shapes is the 1040, or as we like to call it in our family: the 'UFO vase'. I can imagine that the design of the vase was inspired by the space race of the 1950s and 1960s - or by the interest in extraterrestrial life, as was not uncommon in design of this era.

"Look! A flying Walter Gerhards vase!"

For me this design is the perfect example of a combination of strong straight lines with curvy lines, something West-German pottery is renowned for. This vase comes in several glazes, so far I have 5 and a few small variations, but my favorite is the version that comes with thick black lava and is combined with a beautiful red/yellow/orange glaze, as pictured below.

As you can see, these wonderful outlandish shapes were combined with some of the most beautiful glazes. Walter Gerhards uses daring color combinations such as bright green on black, purple with yellow, and orange with black. For me these colors ooze the seventies. In addition to colors, a lot of attention in the design is paid to using different textures. Thick lava drippings are combined with extremely glossy glazes, and matte backgrounds are mixed with shiny glazes.

Another important aspect for me is the high quality of these vases. The vases are quite heavy and the glazes seem expensive. They look more like studio vases than mass-produced vases, but I'm not sure if that is true. Unlike some companies, I have never seen a Walter Gerhards vase with a production error or with unglazed areas. All in all, they are just nice to handle, to touch!

In my opinion Walter Gerhards is still very much underrated by West-Germany collectors, and maybe this is because the output of the factory seems small and so little information is yet known about the company. Hopefully we will find out some more information about Walter Gerhards and his company in the future. I would definitely recommend picking up some pieces now, as bargains can still be found,  if only because they make a wonderful addition to the collection of any Fat Lava lover!

High quality glazes and beautiful shapes

Do you have any wonderful examples of Walter Gerhards pottery, or new glazes on the 1040 that you want to share! Let me know in the comments section, I would love to see them!

A lot of theinformation used on this blog was shared by members on the amazing pottery & glass forum. If you love West-German pottery and have never visited the site, please go and have a look! www.potteryandglass.forumandco.com