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.

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!

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!