Best known for its stylish Vasekraft line, Fulper Pottery was a major producer of American art pottery, which grew out of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States.

Like the Rookwood, Roseville and Van Briggle potteries, the Flemington, New Jersey–based Fulper flourished from the 1870s through the 1920s. During that period, U.S. consumers favored the fluid forms and cool color palette of Art Nouveau ceramics, as well as the practicality of the Craftsman style.

Unlike studio ceramics, in which each piece is hand thrown on a potter’s wheel, most art pottery — including vintage Fulper vases, bowls and other creations — was made using molds, yielding identical forms that were glazed in distinctive patterns like the butterscotch and cat’s-eye combination displayed in this 1915 example.

The company that became Fulper Pottery was founded in 1841. Initially a manufacturer of utilitarian ceramics ranging from crockery to drain pipes, it was bought in 1960 by Abram Fulper, who changed its name from Samuel Hill Pottery and retooled it to make more refined ceramics using the region’s red clay.

Incorporated as Fulper Pottery Co. in 1899 under the leadership of Abram’s two sons, it produced attractive utilitarian householdware such as its line of fireproof cookware and its Germ-Proof Filter, a sort of early water cooler used in public places.

The firm made its first forays into art pottery with a line of glazed vessels created by its master potter, John Kunsman, pieces from which were shown at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition and won an honorable mention. At that time, a series of World’s Fairs and museum shows were fueling a fascination among the public with East Asian art and design. In response, the American art pottery community began producing wares with glazes that recalled the brilliant colors and shimmering surfaces of Chinese ceramics. Fulper’s entry was its Vasekraft line, which launched in 1909.

Unfortunately, the original glazes employed were not entirely successful and, even more importantly, were expensive to produce.

In the 1910s, Fulper’s new ceramic engineer, Martin Stangl, revamped the Vasekraft line with glazes less like the Chinese and more akin to those of Roseville and Rookwood pottery, with more uniform coloration and matte surfaces. His designs ranged from bookends to candle holders, desk accessories, and lamps, all of which remained popular into the 1920s.

Following World War I, Fulper introduced new lines, such as Fulper Pottery Artware and Fulper Porcelaines, which were marketed specifically to women and featured delicate items for a fashionable dressing table, as well as a solid-color Fulper Fayence. After William Fulper’s death, in 1928, Stangl was named president, and in 1935 the Stangl Pottery line became the company’s only product. In 1978, Fulper was purchased by Pfaltzgraff.

Find vintage Fulper pottery for sale on 1stDibs.

A Close Look at Art-deco Furniture

Art Deco furniture is characterized by its celebration of modern life. More than its emphasis on natural wood grains and focus on traditional craftsmanship, vintage Art Deco dining chairs, tables, desks, cabinets and other furniture — which typically refers to pieces produced during the 1920s and 1930s — is an ode to the glamour of the “Roaring Twenties.”

ORIGINS OF ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGN

Emerged in the 1920s
Flourished while the popularity of Art Nouveau declined
Term derives from 1925’s Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) in Paris, France
Informed by Ancient Egypt, Cubism, Futurism, Louis XVI, De Stijl, modernism and the Vienna Secession; influenced Streamline Moderne and mid-century modernism

CHARACTERISTICS OF ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGN

Bold geometric lines and forms, floral motifs
Use of expensive materials such as shagreen or marble as well as exotic woods such as mahogany, ebony and zebra wood
Metal accents, shimmering mirrored finishes
Embellishments made from exotic animal hides, inlays of mother-of-pearl or ivory

ART DECO FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

VINTAGE ART DECO FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

Few design styles are as universally recognized and appreciated as Art Deco. The term alone conjures visions of the Roaring Twenties, Machine Age metropolises, vast ocean liners, sleek typography and Prohibition-era hedonism. The iconic movement made an indelible mark on all fields of design throughout the 1920s and ’30s, celebrating society’s growing industrialization with refined elegance and stunning craftsmanship.

Widely known designers associated with the Art Deco style include Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, Maurice Dufrêne, Paul Follot and Jules Leleu.

The term Art Deco derives from the name of a large decorative arts exhibition held in Paris in 1925. “Art Deco design” is often used broadly, to describe the work of creators in associated or ancillary styles. This is particularly true of American Art Deco, which is also called Streamline Moderne or Machine Age design. (Streamline Moderne, sometimes known as Art Moderne, was a phenomenon largely of the 1930s, post–Art Nouveau.)

Art Deco textile designers employed dazzling floral motifs and vivid colors, and while Art Deco furniture makers respected the dark woods and modern metals with which they worked, they frequently incorporated decorative embellishments such as exotic animal hides as well as veneers in their seating, case pieces, living room sets and bedroom furniture.

From mother-of-pearl inlaid vitrines to chrome aviator chairs, bold and inventive works in the Art Deco style include chaise longues (also known as chaise lounges) and curved armchairs. Today, the style is still favored by interior designers looking to infuse a home with an air of luxury and sophistication.

The vintage Art Deco furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes dressers, coffee tables, decorative objects and more.

Finding the Right Table-lamps for You

Well-crafted antique and vintage table lamps do more than provide light; the right fixture-and-table combination can add a focal point or creative element to any interior.

Proper table lamps have long been used for lighting our most intimate spaces. Perfect for lighting your nightstand or reading nook, table lamps play an integral role in styling an inviting room. In the years before electricity, lamps used oil. Today, a rewired 19th-century vintage lamp can still provide a touch of elegance for a study.

After industrial milestones such as mass production took hold in the Victorian era, various design movements sought to bring craftsmanship and innovation back to this indispensable household item. Lighting designers affiliated with Art Deco, which originated in the glamorous roaring ’20s, sought to celebrate modern life by fusing modern metals with dark woods and dazzling colors in the fixtures of the era. The geometric shapes and gilded details of vintage Art Deco table lamps provide an air of luxury and sophistication that never goes out of style.

After launching in 1934, Anglepoise lamps soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted the fixture as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.” The popular task light owed to a collaboration between a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine and a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry & Sons.

Some mid-century modern table lamps, particularly those created by the likes of Joe Colombo and the legendary lighting artisans at Fontana Arte, bear all the provocative hallmarks associated with Space Age design. Sculptural and versatile, the Louis Poulsen table lamps of that period were revolutionary for their time and still seem innovative today.

If you are looking for something more contemporary, industrial table lamps are demonstrative of a newly chic style that isn’t afraid to pay homage to the past. They look particularly at home in any rustic loft space amid exposed brick and steel beams.

Before you buy a desk lamp or table lamp for your living room, consider your lighting needs. The Snoopy lamp, designed in 1967, or any other “banker’s lamp” (shorthand for the Emeralite desk lamps patented by H.G. McFaddin and Company), provides light at a downward angle that is perfect for writing, while the Fontana table lamp and the beloved Grasshopper lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman each yield a soft and even glow. Some table lamps require lampshades to be bought separately.

Whether it’s a classic antique Tiffany table lamp, a Murano glass table lamp or even a bold avant-garde fixture custom-made by a contemporary design firm, the right table lamp can completely transform a room. Find the right one for you on 1stDibs.