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!

Walk Like An Egyptian

West-German pottery often drew inspiration from historical examples, both in shape and in décor. Last week when I was unpacking a box that came from storage, I re-stumbled upon a cute little vase by Übelacker that was clearly influenced by Egyptian art and ceramics, but in a very twentieth century way.

1960s Übelacker vase

The shape of this vase is pretty basic. If someone asked me to draw an archetypal shape of a vase, there is a big chance that I would come up with a similar form. Although it is not exactly the same, it seems based on the shape of a Roman Amphora (although similar shapes were also found in excavations in tombs in Egypt), but without the handles. The mottled yellow background very much reminds me of Egypt, as it is a sort of sandy yellow, reminiscent of the desert.

But what makes the vase so much fun for me is the décor! The men walking with their hands up in the air immediately reminded me of the song from The Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian. I can remember the Bangles-ladies walking in the same way in the video of the song.

Seeing this vase, and rewatching the video by The Bangles did make me wonder: did Egyptians actually walk like an Egyptian? The image we have of them walking in this way seems to come from the Ancient Egyptian relief paintings, where figures were depicted showing both the profile of the face and the body. The placement of the hand (one arm up, one horizantal, fingers pointing out) must have been added later, as I never saw an Egyptian fresco in this gesture. It slightly reminds me of Balinese dancing? Maybe these two styles were successfully mixed to become The Bangles dance.

Measuring and recording the harvest is shown in a wall painting in the Tomb of Menena, at Thebes,
source: Guinness E. Alma

Reading a bit more about the topic, I found out that there are much earlier examples of these Egyptian moves. One of the earliest examples I could find are the Sand Dances by the British trio Wilson, Keppel and Betty. These 'eccentric dances' were the highlight of their show, during which Wilson and Keppel would dance on a stage covered with sand, dressed up in Arabic inspired costumes. They were inspired by the discovery of the tomb of King Tutanchamun by Howard Carter in 1922. The trio performed all over the world (with several different 'Bettys') from 1919 until 1963. I would like to believe that one of the designers at Übelacker saw their performance in Germany and was inspired to create this vase!