Lapid Ceramics Reference Guide

Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

The Lapid book is published! This is such exciting and long awaited news for collectors of Lapid Israel Pottery. I have written a brief history of Lapid pottery previously HERE which you might want to read before you read this post.  

After 8 plus years of extensive research by Kobi, the previously un-written story of this pottery is now properly catalogued, documented, and its story told. A story that came so close to being lost to history as so many potteries have in the past.

The book is thorough in its scope and breadth – covering everything from Lapid’s birth to its decline in the late 1980s. This first edition is in Hebrew only, but because of the beautiful design and photography, you can appreciate and learn a lot about Lapid simply from the photographs, promotional posters, illustrations, datelines, signatures and more. It is a hardback edition of 350 plus pages, and you don’t find many pottery reference books so beautifully designed as this one. 

….and that dust jacket is just genius!  – an unfolding chart of many of the Lapid shapes/forms – which are also found inside the book. 

One of the revelations to me was to find out the names of many of the designs that I have admired for years. Some of these designs have locally inspired names, such as “Ein Gedi”, “Carmel” “Negev’ and others are more general in nature like “Free” and “Arabesque”.

A thrill for me was to be able find out the names of many of the painters and artists who worked at Lapid and the dates they worked there. Lapid only started using decals on some of their ranges in the 1970s and 1980s (items such as dinnerware) but they never stopped producing their hand painted “Art Pottery”. 

While Lapid Pottery is popular, admired and collected in the West, over the past 8 years or so that I have been following the development of this book it has become apparent to me how important Lapid Ceramics is to the Israeli community from both a cultural and sociological perspective. It’s hard to think of any other pottery that is so important and significant to the people of its country. 

The book is available on eBay internationally if you search for “Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman”  or contact Kobi via the facebook page Lapid Ceramics. 

You can also find a very well written review/summary of the book and the story of Lapid pottery in English on the website of tabletmag.com here and an interview with Kobi about the development of the book in Hebrew (use Google to auto translate) HERE

Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

From: Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

Detail: Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

Lapid Ceramics: A Melting Pot, Kobi Klaitman

Lapid Israel – “Vered” Design – Photo Ray Garrod – This design by Lapid called “Vered” seems to have been a very popular import from Lapid into Australia and is still frequently seen for sale on eBay and at public auction, and appears on a wide range of shapes and sizes from small candle holders to massive floor vases.

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