While we're blanketed by snow, let us feature a few handsome pieces which channel the Winter's temperament.
Shown here, a West German Modernist vase by Ceramano (located in Ransbach-Baumbach, Germany, about 55 miles Northwest of Frankfurt). The workshop was founded in 1954 by Jakob Schwaderlapp, the same man who previously had established Jasba (in 1926). Jasba had always been a mass production-oriented operation, utilizing less artisan handwork (per piece) and generating a high volume of affordable output. After World War II, with the boom of post war Modernism, Schwaderlapp launched a new workshop in order to bridge the gap between expensive, high-touch studio production and the less expensive (but commonplace) mass production. Ceramano was the result of this mission.
The piece above is from Ceramano's Syrakus range. A tall, simple "bottle-form" vase is striated by hand (while the clay was still malleable). It creates a bark-like texture on the body of the vase which is then decorated with white glazing. The effect is that of powdery snow on the trunk of a tree. The neck of the vase is glazed with a warm, bronzed gunmetal. The stark contrast—form and glazing—between the organic body and the almost-industrial neck of the vase is part of the tension which Schwaderlapp sought to produce through his ceramics designs. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome piece.
More Winter White items to come—tomorrow and in the days to follow.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.