It's About Time

Last year I wrote about finding my first West-Germany clock. After that first lucky hit, I found many more beauties. I have to admit that my first find is still my favourite, and I haven't found any more examples by Carstens. Lately however, I've come across a number of clock bodies which were produced by the company Herbolzheim Keramik.

Herbolzheim Keramik must be one of the unsung heroes of West-German pottery. As far as I know there isn't any information available about the company. Apart from the fact that the factory was established in…. you guessed it… Herbolzheim, there is just nothing, nada! (If you have any information, I would love to know!) But they were prolific producers of West-German pottery.

I did manage to find out (by checking a lot of online listings) that the company seems to only have produced kitchenware, mainly cake plates, and many, many bodies for clocks. I also found a few wall plates, which were based on the designs for the clocks. Not a single vase in sight!

It looks like they started producing kitchenware, as a lot of it has the typical pastel 50s/60s colours. I love the clocks though, as they are über seventies! The glazes are fantastic: oranges with reds, yellow with blue, lime green on a forest green background. Wow! These clocks are very vibrant.

Most are based on a rectangular shape and are cool because of the glazing, but some have fantastic shapes as well.

Herbolzheim probably delivered the clock surrounds to the factories who produced the mechanism. I So far I have seen a number of factories such as Quarz, Quartz, Zentra, Junghans and others all use the ceramic bodies by Herbolzheim.

The best thing about these clocks is that they are so usable! When you reach that point where your house just cannot contain another vase (and most of us West-German pottery collectors know this feeling), you can go looking for one of these clocks. Every house needs a clock, right?

A Mountain Backdrop

I've just returned from a lovely holiday in Austria. Normally when I'm on holiday I might visit the odd antiques shop, but as my husband and I often go to destinations where you have to fly, there isn't really the opportunity for buying vintage items. This time we travelled by car, and there was a flea market near our hotel on Sunday, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a really good one, with lots of stalls and plenty of private sellers. And isn't this the best view at a flea market, ever?

We've found some lovely things at this first market. From left to right: A Goebel ceramic fish money bank, two Rörstrand tea or coffee jugs in the pattern Irene, a Bitossi vase in the decor Sahara, a glass elephant paperweight (which is marked, but I haven't figured out who made it), and a blue Bay vase.

The first few days we had lovely weather, but later on in the week it started to rain. As we weren't able to go biking as planned because of that, we decided to do some more hunting. We visited a number of antique malls/halls and charity sales in the area. Again, we came up with a pretty good haul!

From left to right we found a ceramic lantern by one of the West German factories, a Holmegaard candle holder, a Bay Fat Lava vase, a Ceramano jug (sadly, damaged at the handle), and a large yellow Sklo Bullet vase.

At a charity sale for a local animal shelter we also found this beautiful cup and saucer by Weimar Porzellan in kobalt blue, which is weirdly also marked by Goebel. I discovered these are called a Herrengedeck or a Fernsehgedeck in German. The saucer is extra large so it can contains some cake or cookies. Very convenient!

The day before we left we visited one more antiques hall near our hotel. This hall was full of little stands and small shops and opened every sunday morning. We had to get up pretty early to fit it in our schedule, seeing we also had to drive the 1000 km home, but we weren´t disappointed!

Again, from left to right: a Scheurich 414-16 with fab blue and black crusty glaze, two teak vikings, one carrying a massive spear, a small glass elephant by Bertil Vallien, a Sommerso Murano vase in blue and yellow, a Bavaria Porzellan trinket box, a Baller bronze donkey/zebra, possibly by Walter Bosse, and a Scheurich vase with a beautiful blue and yellow glaze.

We were just about to leave when we spotted one more store around the corner. As a cherry on the cake this shop contained a fab shaped Bertoncello vase and one of the best Nierentisch I have seen in a long time!

Most of these items will be for sale in my Etsy shop, which you can check out at www.etsy.com/shop/Vaseomania

Cattails

Hello dear reader! It has been an eternity since I last posted an article on my blog. I didn't go away in the meantime, but life got in the way! In addition to my online store on Etsy, I landed a full time job as a technical writer for a healthcare IT company in May. It's the most wonderful thing for me, because I get to do what I love all day: writing! It just meant I had to take a step back on my extracurricular activities for a while.

But I'm back! And I'm taking up where I left off, namely with Royal Copenhagen. Ok, ok, I know this isn't Fat Lava, and I promise I will do a post on German Pottery again soon, but I do love myself a piece of Scandi Pottery.

Two weeks ago I was able to pick up the most amazing set of three Royal Copenhagen vases. I figured they were by Nils Thorsson, as they were clearly from the Fajance series, but something in the bright yellow that was used in the decoration made me doubt this. After checking the signature on the bottom of the vases, I realized the decor was designed by another artist: Ivan Weiss. I haven't been able to confirm it, but apparently the decor is called Trina.

Ivan Weiss had an interesting career. Born in 1946, he started working at Royal Copenhagen in 1962 when he was just 26 years old. He started by learning to become an overglaze painter. He must have been good, because in 1966 he worked and studied with Nils Thorsson, until he left for Japan in 1970. He studied in Japan for 2 years.

When he returned to Denmark, he resumed work at Royal Copenhagen. I think this must have been when he started designing his own decors for Royal Copenhagen. It must also have been the time when the decor on these vases was designed.

He indicates that his designs are influenced by an interest in calligraphy and an absence of symmetry. When I look at the decor on these vases, I can easily imagine the gray strokes are inspired by traditional Buddhist calligraphy of Kanji.

What I especially love in these vases is the balance in the colors, the balance between light and dark tones. The yellow and brown work wonderfully together, but the silvery gray brings the decor to a whole new level. It is amazing how he can achieve such a beautiful look with basically two large strokes of color, accented by details in a third. When I look at these vases, they remind me of Cattails standing at the waterside in autumn sunrise.

In an interview, Ivan Weiss once said about his decors that they are "a landscape which you can enter and dream, disappear in." What a poetic way of thinking about these lovely vases. As long as this set is lodging with me I'll gladly gaze at them and dream of Cattails in the golden Indian summer light.

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? 

It is here!

It is here! A few weeks ago I spotted this beautiful and rare Nils Thorsson Columbine vase for Royal Copenhagen on a local website. A bidding war ensued, but finally I was still able to purchase the vase for a reasonable prize. Isn't it pretty? I still have to do a bit of research on this item, but I'm hoping to give you a full post on this beautiful item, including some background information on Nils Thorsson (and some better pictures) soon!

News Flash

I think I have a new obsession. From the first time I laid eyes on the work of Dorothy Hafner, I was hooked! This American designer, born in 1952 and still working today, started creating ceramics in 1972. She went on to create the shapes for the Flash range for Rosenthal in 1982, and also designed most of the decors on the series.

Creamer and sugar bowl - Flash One by Dorothy Hafner for Rosenthal

A few weeks ago I came across the above creamer and sugar bowl of the "Flash one" series, and I just had to have them. What I love most about them is how the shape complements the décor. They really work together, the angular lines of the shape are strengthened by the lines and blocks of color in the décor. My favorite item in the range must be the fondue set: it doesn't get more eighties than this!

The items in the Flash range remind me a lot of the postmodern designs from the Memphis group. Both the wacky, asymmetrical shapes, and bizarre color combinations. They are so much fun, looking at them makes me happy!

In addition to her work for Rosenthal, Dorothy Hafner also designed some beautiful items for Tiffany's, including a range of angular teapots with bamboo handles, that are absolutely wonderful! She still creates art for her own studio, but nowadays she mostly works in glass. These items are also incredibly pretty.

Her work is included in a lot of museum collections, including the Victoria & Albert in London and the Smithsonian. Although Rosenthal's Flash range is already collectible, I think this will be an area for future investment. If you can snap some pieces up, it seems like a wise choice.

Dorothy Hafner has a great website, where she sells some of her studio work, sadly a bit above my budget. You can find it on www.dorothyhafner.com

Busy Susan

During the holidays there wasn't a lot of time to go thrifting, but I was still able to go to one market nearby. There were a few nice things, so I just wanted to show you the last finds of 2013. From left to right we found a vase from the Dutch designer Max Verboeket for Maastricht Unie, with a very pretty purple swirl, a plastic orange Busy Susan spice rack by the Danish company Digsmed DK, a very kitsch 1970s or 1980s cat brooch, with creepy little red eyes, and last but not least a Riihimaki vase by Tamara Alladin, which will be added to my Riihimaki collection.

Digsmed were a Danish company, there isn't a lot of information available about them. It looks like they made mostly kitchen and table ware, mainly in teak. There is a report that the company was located in Roskilde and closed in 1975, although this information is not verified.

The spice rack I found is called a Busy Susan, they are named on the original box (that sadly didn't come with my purchase). These also came in teak, which are very cool as well. There is even a teak version available with an amazing 18 bottles. They can be mounted on the wall, and the wheel they are on turns. What I love about the item is it's functionality, this could easily be used in a modern kitchen, or even to store little knick-knacks in.

If you have any more information on Digsmed, please leave a comment, as I would love to know! I'm sure there must be more sources about this factory in Danish, maybe we'll find out more in the future!

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish everybody the best for 2014! I hope it'll be a wonderful year with plenty of pots and many amazing discoveries.

Leanne

Party like it's 1954! Source