C20Ceramics

Jun 4

Tuominen Pottery, Adelaide

Tuominen Pottery, Adelaide Australia.

Lauri Tuominen (b1949 -) worked here in South Australia as a potter for about 20 years during the late 1970s into the 1990’s. I remember his gallery outlet as being very successful commercially and accessible to people who knew nothing about pottery…except for what they liked.

Lauri Tuominen Studio Pottery

Practically everyone I know locally has a piece of Tuominen pottery from this period. What wasn’t purchased personally was often given as a gift, wedding present or housewarming gift etc.

Occasionally I have see Tuominen pottery for sale now mistakenly attributed as “Arabia Finland” because of the Finnish designer at Arabia, Kati Tuominen.

Lauri was Finnish born and trained as, then worked as an art teacher here for 4 years before moving full time into being a full time potter. He did some further design study in Scandinavia in his early years as a potter. In his studio he employed 1 apprentice and 1 assistant.

His large variety of domestic stoneware pottery is characterised by dark subdued glazes in earthen colours, as is much of his one-off studio ware. There were other colours produced but these darker tones were the most popular and are the ones most often found these days at auctions, second hand stores, markets etc.

Lauri Tuominen Studio Pottery Large Teapot

Lauri Tuominen Studio Pottery Blossom Vase

Lauri Tuominen Studio Pottery – Small Jug

Midwinter Designs by Charles Cobelle

When I first found the Midwinter Pottery items in the first image below at an auction, I was reminded of the work of French artist Leger…….I was on the right track at least (French)

The design turns out to be by painter Charles Cobelle (born Carl Edelman (1902-1994). His early career was in France then continued in the U.S. from the 1920’s.

I found a record of the design in the Midwinter Pottery book by Steven Jenkins. The design is called Desert Scene, and is a transfer print from a painting by Cobelle – It is known as a pattern on a range of dinner ware in the “Fashion Shape” (c 1955-1960)

Midwinter Dinnerware, Charles Cobelle Desert Scene

Here is a fascinating summary of the life and work of Cobelle from Wikipedia: Read more

May 31

Soholm Denmark, Burgundia

Soholm Burgundia Series

The shapes for this very modernist looking series were designed by Holm Sorensen, and the pattern/glaze/decoration by Svend Aage Jensen in 1956. Many of the same forms were used on the now very rare “Zambesi” series by the same collaborators and other series in the same decade.

The base glaze on Burgundia is a satin black, and the pattern has various designs hand-painted in white, yellow and pale blue.

It is hard to know exactly how many forms there were in this series, but there seems to have been a large number – some of which are now very very rare – like the coveted Bull, and the Stork.