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

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.

Catching a Bullet Vase

I know I mentioned this before, but part of why I do this is because I LOVE going out and hunting for new items to add to my collection or shop. Once a month there is a huge second hand market close to my home that has about 250 to 400 stalls. The good thing about this fair is that the sellers often vary, so you won't run into the same (frustrating) chipped vase or that beautiful piece you cannot afford every single time.

Last weekend was the last fair of 2013, and in my experience the one before Christmas is often the best and busiest, both in number of sellers and number of visitors. Obviously that meant I had to be there early to catch the proverbial worm, so early that it was still dark when my alarm clock started ringing.

Even though it was early on a Sunday morning, I was glad I made the effort, because there was already a line forming to go in when I arrived. Smart little trick I picked up over the years, and that I would like to share with you now: directly walk to the end of the hall and start at the back! Most people will automatically start at first rows, so it will be more crowded there. At the back you'll have plenty of room to start your browsing session.

It was a good day indeed, as you can see I found loads of pretty things! From left to right you can see an original roll of seventies wallpaper, two American pyrex dishes from 1975 (very rare to find these in the Netherlands!), a yellow Sklo Union Bullet or Lens vase, a set of six shot glasses in original rack from the fifties or sixties by the german company Ruhrglas, a green Ruscha 346 vase, a vintage dalarna horse, and a Sklo union candlewax vase by Frantisek Peceny (the larger version).

Because it is almost Christmas, I was hoping to find some Czech glass from one of the factories grouped under the umbrella term Sklo union, as my mum is a collector of these vases. She particularly loves the Bullet or Lens vase, designed in 1955 by Rudolf Schrötter for Rosice glasswork, and produced from that year onwards. 

Her collection started with one yellow bullet vase that came from my grandma. I'm not a 100% sure, but I think my grandma might have actually bought it new during a trip to Prague in the seventies. However, my mum now has 14 small bullet vases in different colors, and the larger model in 7 different shades. They are presented on the windowsill, and they look lovely with sunlight shining through them. 

Originally these vases were made in 12 different colors: clear, turquoise, dark green, spring green, amber, yellow, citrin, light blue, mid-blue, cobalt blue, rosalin, amethyst, lilac, smoke. It is getting increasingly harder to find a color variation she doesn't own yet, so finding a yellow colored bullet vase, similar to the one that started it all, but this time in the large model, really made my day!

International Collectors Fair Utrecht - Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs

We've got a fab announcement! As we liked the fair we did earlier this month so much, we've decided to book a stand for one of the biggest vintage events in Europe! We will be present at the Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs aka International Collectors Fair in the Jaarbeurs in our hometown of Utrecht on November 23 & 24.

This fair consists of 5 huge halls chockfull of everything you can ever imagine you wanted to collect, ranging from toys, albums, stamps, scifi, and of course loads of vintage! There is even a separate section for design from the fifties/sixties/seventies, where we will be located. We'll be bringing plenty of Fat Lava pottery and other European ceramics and glass, and more. Hope to see you there!

Vaseomania zal aanwezig zijn op de Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs op 23 & 24 november. We staan in hal 9 met een kraam vol Fat Lava, Europees (incl. Scandinavisch & Italiaans)  keramiek & glas en meer!

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.