West German Ceramics

This very first Retropolitan Blog is about West German Ceramics.

 ”Hmmm, ceramics” i hear you murmur, a little dull, reminiscent of Uncle Arthur watching the antiques roadshow fawning over a Clarice Cliff teapot? Well, think again - we are talking Loud, we are talking Bold and we are talking down right Garish………….

I discovered my first piece of West German pottery in a charity shop in Yorkshire. It was what one dealer recently called one of his “brown pieces” – which means, slightly more common  and yes, you got it – brown, at least mostly, in colour. What he really meant was that it was his cheaper stock as brown is a complete antithesis to the usual retro tastic colours West German pottery typifies. So, I bought my piece for £3 and 5 years later, I sold it for £35.  Don’t worry, that’s not my usual stock turnaround time (or unfortunately my usual profit margin!!) . It may have been brown but it had a lustrous glaze , a gorgeous deep red daub of paint around its middle and a lovely slender shape. It looked beautiful on top of my fireplace next to my chocolate brown sofa. This is why Retropolitan has a large collection – they all look so great mixed up in a modern home!

So, yes, prices are going up – but you can still find amazing bargains, it’s just becoming harder to find the top of the range pieces. Like any collectable that is picking up in desirability, the big pieces, the most colourful, the ones which we know who designed and made them are now either in 20th century dealers gallery stock, or they are sitting with some clever trend conscious collector – who will be glad to know their small investment is rather safe!

Some of the glazes are so bold and eccentric, aficionados have nicknamed the style Fat Lava, after some of the bubbling black volcanic like glazes spilling from the rim. The main distinguishing elements of this pottery are the pop art inspired glazes in so many different forms- pumice, black lava, pockmarked, cratered, frosted, moulded, shiny…it goes on – and really the more experimental with glaze and colour, the more desirable the piece is to a collector.

Identifying has become so much easier thanks to a publication by Mark Hill, called Fat Lava to which I owe a big debt of gratitude. It was the first ever book on the subject to be published in English, and was produced in association with the exhibition of the Graham Cooley Collection of West German ceramics last June (exhibiting over 800 pieces!) Having had Mark’s approval to quote some of his text, I’m sure he will only be too pleased that we are spreading the good West German Ceramics word! You can buy his book through his website - it has a fantastic catalogue of examples of this period. He is also the co-author of the Judith Miller Collectables price guide Bible and for the first time, there is now healthy a West German ceramics section.

Between the 50’s and the 70’s the post war economic booms together with the explosion in manufacturing lead to many of the retro collectables today being relatively mass produced and offered at affordable prices. West German ceramic designs can be traced back to the Bauhaus. The ceramic school master Gerhard Marcks, encouraged  bold visions for the future, but it was only after the Bauhaus was dissolved and the second world war had well and truly ended that designers began to experiment again with the old school techniques using striking colours and form. Many other influences also filtered through including the Scandinavian design powerhouses and the Italian glass designers.

 So what distinguishes a West German piece from other ceramics being produced at that time? What to look out for, who made what? And which are the designers to really keep your eyes opened for?

West German ceramics as we know, are very distinctive – look on the base and there is likey to be a number stamped on the bottom. Usually a longer number followed by a dash then a shorter one. The first number usually being the product number and the second is simply the height of the piece. Often “W. Germany” will also be stamped as well as the maker. The type of clay used which can be found by looking at the base rim can also identify a maker.

There are several main manufacturers of this period, the most prolific probably being Scheurich, who produced the most amount of designs and shapes. Other notable manufacturers were Rusha, Bay, ES Keramik and Dumbler & Breiden, Carstens, Ceramano, Jasba, Roth & EK Schollsberg.

I’ve picked out some of the more easily found manufacturers and have included some photos and a little bit of information on what to look out for:

BAY 1933-96
Bodo Mans was their most famous designer, and they made a huge range especially in the 60-70’s using highly colourful glazes typical of the period. Their pieces are almost always signed – moulded on the bottom with BAY – the number, followed by W.-Germany.

Carstens 1945-84
Founder was Ernst Carstens and his wife Trude.  The range was generally high quality  and in the 60’s & 70’s produced more stylised retro ranges. The more expensive and unusual range was called Luxus  - identify by a moulded mark on a reddy brown  base – the signature looks like a house with two roofs.

Ceramano 1959-84
Ceramano was formed with the intention of being Jasba’s more creative and arty arm and capitalised on the studio pottery boom of the 60’s. The main designers were Hans Wellings and Gerda Heuckeroth. Most pieces used a reddish brown clay hand inscribed and signed on the base.

 Dumbler & Brieden 1883-92
The quality is high and they were known for the more unique and outlandish styles and shapes. They were the founders of a metallic powder and used this a great deal in the 60’s, their Studio pieces (marked) are rare and the more experimental vases were known as “fairytale vases”. Mainly used white clay and moulded marks of Cross swords on the base.

Ruscha 1905-96
Cilli Worsdorfer was the main influential designer of their high quality art pottery ranges  and Otto Gerhatz devised the famous vulcano glazes as well as many others, which gave way to the drip glaze. Kurt Tschorner created most of the well known shapes  - the most famous being the 313 jug. Some pieces are stamped (they made a gorgeous range of space age tiles), but most just have a 3 digit mark.

Scheurich 1954 – today

Easily the most prolific of the West German manufacturers, Scheurich produced the greatest number of models and ranges and also exported the most. Henry Siery was the main designer here, the quality was high and pieces are easily found today. Colours are typical of the period and some ranges were made in up to 50 different glazes and colours. They were always made with a white clay, and moulded bases with 2 sets of numbers – the latter being the height in cms. This was followed by a W German mark. The company also used several paper stickers, as with anything collectable leave the sticker on if you wish it to accrue in value at a slightly faster pace.

I hope this has been useful to you. Keep your eyes peeled and if you find something, I  hope you enjoy the decorative and eccentric elements of these ceramics that are  surely set to become  design classics of the future.

For a wide and affordable selection of these ceramics including the ones pictured – please visit our online shop Retropolitan