Maria Philippi – Soholm Designs

In the previous article you saw some of the fabulous studio work by Maria Philippi. This post is about her work with Soholm Pottery, Bornolm Denmark where she worked 1962-1964 as a designer.  Her designs there were so popular that they went on being produced well into the 1970s.

Maria created a number of designs at Soholm in her 2 years there as a designer – and the images featured here are probably her best known designer from her time with Soholm – and the ones that you will come across most often.

One of the most beautiful, and best known designs by Maria is “Nordlys” (Northern Lights) and you can see why it is called that in some of the lovely colour flares and runs on the Nordlys pieces in the first set of images.

Another popular series by Maria is “Granit” – which came in both a blue and a brown glaze. The blue glaze is typical of many at this time from Soholm where on the sharper edges and rims the glaze turns a caramel colour.

Another Philippi design which pops up less frequently is this bamboo design:

And finally the last 2 pieces below have the MP signature for her design – but I don’t know of a name (or if there even is one) for the series. This simple repeat motif of concentric ovals, often with concentric circles on the base was used on several forms in various glazes by Maria.

Finally, Maria Philippi designed several stoneware Wall Plaques featuring bird motifs during her time at Soholm – but the one below is I think the most impressive. It is a large piece, measuring  78cm x 33cm.