What makes that perfect coffee break? Well designed machines to brew it in…
Striking pots to serve it from…
Beautiful cups to drink it out of…
And not forgetting… cosies to keep it warm!
Coffee time @ H is for Home
Category: ceramics
A is for… Apple
This is the beautiful, stylised and very desirable fruit & leaf design of the Eden range designed by Marianne Westman for Rorstrand of Sweden in the 1960s. This apple pattern was used to decorate various pieces of oven and tableware.
We have this lovely, lidded sauce boat from the range available in the H is for Home web shop
It can be used for sauces, compotes, relishes… and is gorgeous enough to simply keep on display!
Flower power
Following on from our recent themes of fish & birds we continue to look at the influence of nature on artists & designers. This week it’s the turn of flowers.
detail from a vintage chopping board
vintage fabrics – pillowcases, curtains, tablecloths etc.
Initially we were going to combine fruit, flowers & foliage but felt that they each deserved their own space. We’ll return to the other two soon enough.
Wining & dining – everything gets given the floral treatment…
Mismatched plates look great together.
Cups, saucers, bowls, jugs, tureens, egg cups, tea pots, coffee pots etc…
Again, we’re using items from our vintage collection predominantly from the 1950s, 60s & 70s. We particularly like the stylised treatment given to flowers during this period. You’re not likely to see any of these flowers in your florists, gardens or hedgerows!
small vintage Hornsea pots
Interpretations range from the elaborate – almost psychedelic – to the paired down & simple.
We love the way that artists & designers play with scale & perspective.
Some designs became almost geometric…
…others were more traditional representations.
The very nature of flowers means that colour is a given and their combinations are limitless. They add a real vibrancy to everyday objects!
We have loads more gorgeous examples so we may have to do a ‘part II’ some day! We hope you’ve enjoyed the ones we’ve chosen to share.
West German Ceramics
We recently posted a photograph of two lava glazed vases on our Flickr page which has proved very popular. So we thought that we’d write a few words and share a few more photos about West German ceramics from the 1950s to the 1970s.
After a period of time being generally ‘out of fashion’ these amazing ceramics are being appreciated once more for their style and eccentricity. They are now regularly seen gracing the pages of design and interior magazines. The range of colours, shapes, textures and sizes is mind-boggling!
Some pieces are hand-thrown, others are mass-produced, stock shapes. However, as with the Poole Delphis Pottery range, even these stock shapes can be transformed by the textures and the individual glazes in every colour imaginable. Pieces range in size from 3 inches to well over 20 inches tall for the larger floor vases.
Impressed ‘thumbnail’ detailing
Frothing lava glaze
Incised decoration
No rules with colour combinations!
Typical base markings
A number of factories produced these characteristic ceramics – Baykeramik, Carstens, Dumler & Breiden, Jopeko, Roth, Ruscha and Scheurich to name but a few. Much has still to be learned about which company produced what. Some factories produced pieces with distinctive base markings such as the crossed swords of Dumler & Breiden, however the majority of pieces simply have serial number markings (often accompanied by ‘German’ or ‘W. Germany’). You may be lucky enough to find a piece with the original paper label, otherwise you’re in for a bit of detective work. 
There hasn’t been a great deal published on West German ceramics from this period, however Fat Lava, by Mark Hill (from Amazon UK)
is a good starting point – it outlines the main factories and is packed with good quality colour photos.
In fact, the book was written to accompany an exhibition of German pottery from this period held at King’s Lynn Arts Centre in 2006.
Another place to find out more is the GinFor’s Odditiques website. Also Outernational, fat-lava.com and An Seta Pottery.
The pots work well displayed in groups of either similar or contrasting colours. The larger floor vases look great as stand-alone pieces.
Our particular favourites are the fiery oranges and reds, particularly ones with the bubbling lava glazes. We’ve built up quite a collection but good examples are getting harder to find and prices are rising steadily.
Trio of small, red and brown West German vases, 4-6 inches tall
Trio of incised vases – classic 1950s shapes
Blue vase with original Scheurich paper label
Huge floor vases
Fat lave glazes provide striking accent colours
We hope you’ve enjoyed looking at some of our collection. Have a look at our West German Pottery Collectors group on Flickr to see some more examples from us and other members. If this post has inspired you to start your own collection, then happy hunting!
Vintage West German pottery & ceramics currently available at our H is for Home online shop
