Mid Century Modern Ceramic Jardinière by Bernard Rooke

An organic and Brutalist style Butterly table lamp. No chips or cracks. Easily retired for all regions. Bernard Rooke (born 1938) is a British artist and studio potter. Rooke has exhibited his "Brutalist" ceramics and painting both in the UK and abroad with work in many collections both public and private including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Nuffield Foundation, Röhsska Museum in Sweden and the Trondheim Kunstmuseum in Norway. Bernard Rooke attended Ipswich School of Art studying painting and lithography before going on to study at Goldsmiths College of Art. It was while studying here that he decided to take up pottery. Although unfamiliar with this craft and tradition, he found that working with clay provided new opportunities for freedom of interpretation and creativity. In 1960 Rooke set up his first pottery in Forest Hill in South London along with Alan Wallwork. It was a very small room with enough space for a small electric kiln. He was initially using mainly hand building, coiling, blocking and slabbing techniques. While researching ideas, he was supporting himself by part-time lecturing at London University, Goldsmiths College and St Mary's College. In addition, Rooke's membership of 'The Craftsman Potters' Association' enabled him to show his work in a shop in Carnaby Street in London. In 1967, both the need for a larger working space and becoming disillusioned with living in London spurred Rooke into moving out of the city and to an old mill building in Swilland in Suffolk. Rooke wanted to widen the range of work so as to become more commercial. With the birth of his son, Aaron, and much needed work to be done on the mill, it was important to be able to make a living. In 1968, the Grand Metropolitan Hotel commissioned Rooke to make 120 standard lamps, 120 table lamps as well as a 24 foot long ceramic mural and another 9 foot high, which incorporated interior lighting. The money from the commission helped to pay for much needed restoration work on the mill. By the 1970s, a gallery space was opened in the windmill and run by Susan Rooke, Bernard's wife, selling work to locals and tourists as well as to American airmen based nearby. The vision for Mill Gallery was beginning to develop and alongside this a reputation was building bringing in a good source of income. Sons Aaron and Felix were becoming more involved with the running of the pottery, giving Bernard more time to develop new ideas and designs and more time to continue with his painting. In 2004, the Rooke family decided not to sell to the public through the gallery anymore and close the pottery to concentrate more on painting and printmaking. In 2017 Bernard's lighting was featured in the Exhibition: “Glass, Light, Paint & Clay” at the Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition featured four artists: Bernard Rooke, John Maltby...

Swedish ceramic artist Carl-Harry Stålhane (1920- 1990) played a major role in popularizing Swedish pottery during the 20th century, working for more than three decades at Rörstrand, one of the oldest ceramics manufacturers in Europe. During his long tenure at Rörstrand, Stålhane was responsible for small-batch studio pieces, mass-produced tableware , and all manner of decorative accessories . Born in 1920 in Mariestad, Sweden, Stålhane began working at Rörstrand in 1939 as a decorative painter, assisting Danish-Finnish ceramic artist, designer, and sculptor Gunnar Nylund (1904-1997). During this time, Stålhane decorated various ceramic pieces, most notably Nylund’s Flambé range (1939s), quickly establishing himself as a talented ceramic artist. Inspired by the desire for new products during the postwar economic boom, Stålhane went from being a talented decorator to an exceptional ceramic artist. In 1943, Stålhane caught the eye of Swedish artist Isaac Grünewald (1889-1946), who was visiting Rörstrand. Grünewald was so impressed with Stålhane’s work that he took him on as a student, and from 1943 to 1946, Stålhane studied art at Grünewald's Art School in Stockholm. Subsequently from 1947 until 1948, he studied sculpture at Académie Colarossi in Paris. During the 1950s, Stålhane’s work appeared in several solo exhibitions in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His Blanca Tableware range (c. 1955) won numerous international prizes and was in high-demand. In 1958, Stålhane succeeded Nylund as Artistic Director and Chief Designer at Rörstrand. In 1960, Stålhane unveiled a new collection at Stockholm’s Galerie Blanche. Featuring dark stoneware pieces made from local clays, this collection represented a bold departure from the soft, restrained shapes of the 1950s. It has since been praised for its precient aesthetic that would influence the look of ceramics for more than a decade. From 1963 until 1971, Stålhane taught ceramics at the Art Industrial School in Gothenburg. For a short time, he also was the Design Director at the Swedish factory Upsala Ekeby, which in addition to porcelain, produced tile, brick, and glass. Stålhane eventually left Rörstrand in 1973 in order to establish his own ceramic company, Designhuset, in Lidköping, where he further experimented with local clays and minerals. Stålhane continued to work until his death in 1990. Today, Designhuset is a school for ceramists and model-makers. Over the course of his career, Stålhane created several public works for The Commerce Trust Company in Kansas City, Missouri, and for Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden. His work is represented at several international museums, including Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum and New York’s MoMA. Rörstrand is the second oldest brand of ceramics in Europe and can be found in homes all across Sweden and Europe. Rörstrand’s long legacy includes some of Europe’s most iconic ceramics collections including Swedish Grace, Mon Amie, Ostindia, Filippa...

California studio pottery signed ikebana vase with multiple openings, circa 1960s. This very unique piece measures: 4.5" D x 14.5" H and is signed on the ...

It is a ceramic piece by a renowned Catalan ceramist, Jordi Aiguadé. Jordi Aguadé i Clos (Barcelona, ​​1925 – May 22, 2021) was a Catalan ceramist.[1] A reference in contemporary Cat...