Designer Desire: Egersund

Various ceramic designs from Egersund

This post was initially going to be about Kåre Blokk Johansen. However, so little is known about him and his designs that we’ve expanded it to include a couple of other Egersund designers. The pottery was in existence from 1847 to 1979, but we’re going to concentrate (mainly) on the mid-century modern designs.

Similar to Finel, shapes would often be designed by one designer and the pattern would be by another. For example, the Solsikke (Sunflower) and Lagune (Lagoon) patterns were applied to the Korulen shape. The Chérie pattern was done on the Circle shape.

What we do know, however, is that the popular Razorbill ‘alkemuggen’ (top) were designed by Jacob Kielland Sømme. They were available in five sizes and produced almost continuously from 1910 to 1979.

Blokk Johansen, the longest serving designer at the company, was responsible for the Unique (manufactured between 1971 and 1976) and Kongo patterns.

Unni Margrethe Johnsen (1942-2001) designed the patterns Lagune (Lagoon) and Solsikke (Sunflower).

Ingrid Marcussen designed the pretty Chérie pattern in 1966.

We have a few Egersund items for sale in our shop at the moment. There are also some available on eBay and Etsy.

If you can help fill in some of the blanks (or errors) in our knowledge, we’d appreciate your insight!

Shapes/patterns (from top to bottom, left to right):

• Razorbill ‘alkemuggen’ – Jacob K. Sømme
• Shape unknown/Inka
• Shape unknown/2 x Kongo
• Shape unknown/Cairo
• Shape unknown/Perfekt (Perfect)
• Shape unknown/Perfekt Sirkel (Perfect Circle)
• Korulen/pattern unknown
• Korulen/Solsikke (Sunflower)
• Unique/pattern unknown
• Unique/Appel (Apple)
• Circle/Chérie
• Korulen/Lagune (Lagoon)

Image credits:

Heidi Arstad | Tove

Designer Desire: Dieter Peter

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Last week on this series, we featured Gerda Heuckeroth who spent time working for West German pottery manufacturer, Carstens Tönnieshof. Today, we highlight another of the company’s designers, Dieter Peter. He’s the man responsible for the trio of plaques we currently have for sale – pictured above.

Dieter Peter also produced beautiful and tactile vase and lamp base designs for Carstens’ Luxus range. His lines included ‘Moon Crater’ (below, top left), ‘Reptile’ (below, 2nd row, left & right) and ‘Beehive’ (below, 3rd row, left & right).

Find available examples of his work on 1st Dibs, eBay, Etsy and Pamano.

Selection of vintage West German fat lava vases designed by Dieter Peter for Carstens Tönnieshof | H is for Home

Additional image credits:

Afterglow Retro | Perfect Retro |

Designer Desire: Gerda Heuckeroth

Selection of ceramic designs by Gerda Heuckeroth | H is for Home

Although much is known about the various West German pottery manufacturers such as Dümler & Breiden, Roth Keramik and Sheurich not many of the individual makers are familiar names. Gerda Heuckeroth was one of the few named designers.

She created wonderful designs for Ruscha (1959), Urania Ceramano (1962-64) and Carstens Tönnieshof (1964). I absolutely adore her square and rectangular plaques decorated with raised circles. I’ve included examples of them at the top & bottom of the montage. At least three different colourways were produced.

Gerda Heuckeroth eventually branched out on her own, setting up a studio in Berlin. Examples of her work are often available to buy at auction and on eBay and Etsy.

Image credits:

1st Dibs | Pamano

West German vase collection

'West German vase collection' blog post banner

Vintage West German vase collection | H is for Home

We’ve been Fat Lava fans for a long time. It was over 7 years ago that we first blogged about our West German vase collection. All the fabulous shapes and glazes make them a wonderful thing to collect. There’s much more information coming to light about the various factories and designers that produced them which adds further interest and insight. Books, websites and magazine articles dedicated to the subject have appeared over recent years.

Vintage West German vase collection | H is for Home

We’ve seen quite an addition in our own numbers recently. As mentioned in Tuesday’s post, we bought 21 vases at auction last week.

7 vintage West German vases | H is for Home

There are some real beauties, including pieces by Dumler & Breiden, Carstens and Sheurich.

Trio of vintage West German vases | H is for Home

Some work well in small groupings…

Carstens Luxus range 'Beehive' vase designed by Dieter Peter | H is for Home

…others are very impressive stand-alone pieces, such as this large, sculptural Carstens Luxus range ‘Beehive’ vase designed by Dieter Peter.

Trio of vintage fat lava vases | H is for Home

As well as adding a couple to our own West German vase collection, we’ve put about fifteen of them into our antiques centre space; they work very well in a large display. We’ll also add some to the website in the coming week – here’s what we currently have for sale in our online shop.