1950s | C20Ceramics

Sep 3

Tilgman’s Sweden

Tilgman's ceramics was a pottery just outside the city of Gothenburg Sweden, operating from c1948-1975. In its heyday it employed about 80 staff.

It was started by Paul Harald Tilgmann (1904-1974) and in its early years was known for animal figurines, but today it is the style developed by artistic director at Tilgmans, Marian Zawadzki (1912-1978), which has come to define the "look" of Tilgman's output. Most of this work is from the 1950s, and appears soon after Marian started with Tilgman's in 1953 as a Polish refugee.

Marian developed a technique using a sgrafitto.......

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.