CAP Josef & Vlasta

Designer	Josef and Vlasta Cap
Maker	Cap
Marks	Incised with a map of Australia with the letters CAP in capitals above the map.
Material	Glazed slipware
Description	Cream slipware straight-sided bowl tapering to a circular foot-ring.  Short stem handle angled upward from centre of body.  Decorated with alternating vertical pale yellow and brown stripes overpainted with strips of black and a patch of similar decoration to top of handle.
Condition	Very Good
Number	No number
Production Date	Late 1950s
Width at rim	100mm
Width at Base	60mm
Depth	57mm
Length (with handle)	135mm
Weight	240gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition	E-Bay
Rameking Reference Number	CAP 001-004

Here is another something for my Slovakian reader.   These ramekins were made by Josef and Vlasta Cap in South Melbourne, Victoria.  Usually they used “Vlasta” as their mark but if you look hard, you can just see the word “CAP” above the incised outline of Australia on the base.  The shape is similar to some of the Ellis ramekins and the handle is pure Diana with the design screaming late 1950s.  Take a stroll through the antique barns around the traps and you will see examples of this type of pattern on any number of tacky vinyl seats.  They were bad taste then and they are bad taste now but are representative of their time.  There is no other use of this logo that I have been able to find on any other ceramics. 

The Cap Family was part of the great post-war migration from Eastern Europe. They arrived in Melbourne from Czechoslovakia in 1951.  Josef, born 23 July 1923; his wife Vlasta, born 15 October 1922 and son Miloslav born 9 July 1949.  Josef had trained and worked as a sculptor and ceramic artist for 5 years before being arrested by the Gestapo and put into a camp because  Josef had a school friend who was accused of being a British spy.  In those days, that was enough.  After his release Josef re-established his career from 1944 until 1948 when Josef and wife Vlasta applied to come to Australia.  Her maiden name was Kratchovil. (Yes, the Ellis Kratchovil)  Maybe that is where the idea for the shape came from.

Josef Cap

Following the war, Josef fell foul of the new communist regime and that is why he had to leave the country, but Josef had a heart condition and under normal circumstances would have been rejected.  Because he was described as an expert ceramic worker, he was accepted.  The Family came to Australia in 1951 and started a small pottery at 19a Bank Street South Melbourne, Victoria to capitalize on the desperate post-war shortage of home-wares and the upcoming Olympic Games in Melbourne 1956.  In those days, South Melbourne was a hive of Industry, now it is full of pony-tailed advertising types.  As well as ramekins, the Cap's also made other items such as vases

Vlasta Cap

Their old building is long gone and the site now is used as a car-parking garage.  They usually named their wares “Vlasta” after Mrs Cap, but that name is based on one of the amazons of Czech mythology. The name Vlasta is a girls name. The origin is Slavic with the meaning(s) depending on Gender/Origin being Slavic- Powerful Princess or Glorious Chief. It is the feminine form of Vladyslav.  Vlasta died in Heidelberg, Victoria in 1971 aged 40 and was cremated at Springvale on the 3^rd of December 1971.