Pieces of the Puzzle

I know, I know, I just said I didn´t have time to blog... but I had to share this! 

Almost every "thrifter" I know has a list of ultimate finds. It contains items that would make your heart skip a beat if you would come across them in real life. Let alone if they are afordable too!

I practise my poker face every morning in the mirror (I can tell you, I need more practice), just so the dealer on the other end of the table doesn't know I am dying to buy their item.

The top spot on my list will always be a blue Roth vase. In imaculate condition. (Ha, like that's ever gonna happen!)

Furthermore, my top 10 contains a Ruscha 313 in Volcano glaze, Riihimaki uranium pieces, and a Bitossi puzzle vase. I love the wax technique that was used to create the puzzle pieces, and the colors are just great. It's a very sophisticated, but incredibly seventies colour scheme.

So... lo and behold what I found yesterday!

Isn't it wonderful? Added bonus is the beautiful shape. The decor works great on the circular body. It's a great design. I believe the design was by the great Aldo Londi. 

Sadly, I'm not allowed to keep it. We have strict collection rules, only Bitossi animals are allowed permanent residence in our family. Therefore, it will soon go in my Etsy shop. But yes, my heart did skip a beat when I spotted it.

Eye candy

It's a bit of a blogging cliche, but I don't have a lot of time to write new posts at the moment. But I do have some eye candy to share! We have moved house this summer, and I now have an entire attic that I can fill with vases. I'm such a happy camper! 

And this is only the beginning. I'm still sorting through boxes that were stored at my parents house and deciding what may stay and what will be sold. So if you're interested in West-German pottery, keep an eye on the store. I've already added part of my Es-keramik collection, but there will be plenty more!

Teenie Weenie Polka Dots

West-German pottery is such a fun subject, as I'm always learning new things and making new discoveries. A while ago I encountered a factory that was unknown to me: Vereinigte Zeller Fabriken Georg Schmider. I know that's a whole mouth full, but their work is a lot more fun than the name.

The vase that started my new passion is this bad boy:

I love it. It just makes me happy looking at it. I can't imagine anything like that being made nowadays. It is just so mid century, so pop art. I do think it's the glaze that makes the vase, as the baluster inspired shape is actually really traditional.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: returning from their trip to the UK, my parents brought me this fantastic set of animals.

Doing some research, I found out these are also by Zeller! They are absolutely fantastic, so much fun. I specifically love that they are so humorous and colorful. Perfect example is the face of the fish:

So, what do we know about these, apart from how great they are?

There has been a pottery as early as 1794 in Zell am Harmersbach in Germany, in 1898 the factory that produced the wares above was taken over by Georg Schmider. In the early 20th century they produced a lot of traditional faiance, also some beautiful pieces in the Art Nouveau style.

In 1950 the factory hired Anneliese Beckh. A brilliant move as far as I'm concerned, as she designed all the pottery until 1983, including these lovely colorful bits.

Anneliese Beckh was also responsible for the cool Scoophead cats made by Zeller. I don't have any of them in my collection (yet!), so no pictures, but if you would like more information on them, there is a lovely Facebook group, which you can find here.

I'm in the 313

The longer I've been collecting, the more I'm drawn to the ceramics made by Ruscha. Something in their designs is so elegant, especially those from the sixties. And where I loved bright colors and thick, runny fat lava when I started my collection, I now enjoy the slightly more subdued, earthy tones used by this factory.

In an earlier post I already showed my own collection of vases with the Vulkano glaze, in this post I want to highlight the 313. I think it is rightfully the most famous shape by Ruscha.

I mean, look at it! It's so elegant!

The vase was designed by Kurt Tschörner in 1954. The 313 went through a lot of transformations.

Somewhere in the 1960s, Ruscha decided that the model needed to be changed. The handle got thicker. I suspect this made the jug easier and cheaper to produce, maybe it also prevented that a lot of the vases from failing in the production process.

Later in it's history both the handle and the spout got bigger, which distinctly changed the form of the vase.

The 313 comes in many glazes, well over a hundred I believe. There is a great Facebook page displaying these wonderful glazes. These were produced until quite late, possibly as late as the 1990s (I think this brown/gray version might well be from that age).

Forrest Poston wrote a great article about the 313, where he discusses the changes in shape in more detail. You can find it here.

I would love to own a 313 with the original shape one day, with Vulkano glaze. Decor Filigrain would be fine as well... a girl has gotta dream, right?