Harold Hughan

Designer	Harold Hughan
Maker	Harold Hughan
Marks	Painted H Hughan faintly to base in oxide and incised H  G  I
Material	Glazed earthenware clay
Description	Shallow bowl with small curved handle.  Glazed in brown “avocado” finish.  Unglazed footring.
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	After 1945
Width at rim	110mm
Width at Base	55mm
Depth	35mm
Length (with handle)	150mm
Weight	230gm
Volume	240ml
Acquisition	Purchase Australian Pottery at Bemboka 25 October 2013
Rameking Reference Number	HUG 001

Harold Randolph Hughan (1893-1987), potter was born on 11 July 1893 at Mildura, Victoria, the second of ten children of Victorian born Randolph Hughan, Gardener, and his English-born wife Emily, née Clayton. Of slight build, and known to close friends simply as `Buzz’, Hughan was described by Kenneth Hood, who had championed his work, as being, like his pots, `reserved and unassuming’.  Much of Harold’s childhood was spent at Hamilton, Victoria.  In 1910 he moved to Geelong and retrained, by correspondence, as an Electrical Engineer, hence the nickname “Buzz”.  

Having previously served in the Militia for some years, on 27 October 1915 Hughan enlisted in the 1^st Australian Imperial Force.  He saw action on the Western Front in 1916-18 with the 3rd Divisional Signal Company and the 44th Battalion.  In November 1917 Sergeant Hughan was commissioned and in March 1918 promoted to Lieutenant. On the 2^nd of September 1919 he married Lily Booth at the parish church of St James, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, England.  They arrived in Melbourne in February 1920 and his AIF appointment terminated on 14 April. He continued to serve in the Militia, rising to Major in the Volunteer Defence Corps (Home Guard) during World War II.

Born in 1893 he was of an older generation, but as he didn't take up pottery until 1940 he is situated firmly in the post-war pottery movement.  The beginning of his interest in ceramics coincides neatly with the publication of A Potter's Book, which he first read in 1940, the year it was published.  After several jobs, Hughan moved to Melbourne and joined the firm of Oliver J. Nilsen, for whom he worked as an electrical engineer until his retirement in 1963. Long interested in crafts, including woodwork and weaving, he was introduced to pottery in the early 1940s by his wife and their son, Robert, who had taken it up as a hobby.

Bernard Leach’s A Potter’s Book (1940) attracted him to studio pottery in the Anglo-Japanese tradition; C. F. Binns’s The Potter’s Craft(1910) taught him to throw pots on a wheel he devised from the crankshaft of a motorcar engine. He soon built his own kiln and made stoneware in a workshop behind his Glen Iris home.  He made his own kick-wheel and started using feldspar and iron oxide to create celadon and tenmoku glazes with occasional use of dolomite for special effects.  His research into stoneware bodies and glazes was aided by Robert who was a ceramic technologist with the CSIRO.  He was strongly influenced by Bernard Leach, teaching himself to throw with the book propped up in front of him so that he could follow the illustrations.

In 1950 Hughan would contribute a chapter to Australian ceramic history by staging the first major exhibition of stoneware ceramics at the Georges department store gallery in Melbourne. His first retrospective exhibition was held in 1968 at the National Gallery of Victoria and a second exhibition (an exceptional honour) was held at the gallery in 1983 to commemorate his ninetieth birthday. In the catalogue accompanying this second exhibition, the then Director of the gallery, Patrick McCaughey, wrote that 'More than any other Australian ceramist Harold Hughan has been able to absorb the feel and colour of that landscape into his own practice and so returned something authentically and familiarly Australian to us.

With the greatest of goodwill, it is hard to see how this was the case.  Rather than making identifiably Australian pottery, Hughan actually worked in what was a powerful global style, that of Anglo-Oriental ceramics.  One couldn't tell whether a faceted celadon glazed jar was made in Melbourne or London, and even when Hughan produced a magnificent late series of temmoku glazed platters with decorations based on Australian wildflowers, the actual origin of the flora was not at all apparent, buried as they were in a calligraphic cipher of brown on black.

These were international pots made in response to Leach's philosophy of a timeless standard in ceramics and the primacy of traditional Oriental techniques and they were made in Australia just as they were made everywhere A Potter's Book was read.  The Powerhouse Museum has a potters wheel designed and made by Harold) in about 1941. This is probably the first potters wheel to be made in Australia for use in studio pottery. 

Hughan drew inspiration from the Herbert Kent collection of Chinese ceramics at the National Gallery of Victoria: his great love was the pots of the Song and T’ang Dynasties, but his interests encompassed many aspects of historic and contemporary practice. Seeking an `Australian idiom’, he also experimented with new forms. It was important to him that his pots were domestic, functional and affordable; yet they were also distinguished by subtle shapes and beautiful glazes, particularly the Orient-inspired celadons and tenmokus.

He gained a devoted following, especially for his large platters, decorated with oriental motifs, native iris or sprays of bamboo. While prolific, he worked at his own pace well into his nineties. `I do not make pottery for a living’, he said in 1984, `it [is] purely for pleasure, and always has been’.

An exhibition of Hughan’s work at Georges Gallery, Melbourne, in 1950, led to his becoming one of the first contemporary studio potters to be represented in the National Gallery of Victoria. Later exhibitions included major retrospectives at the NGV (1969, 1983).  His work has also been collected by the National Gallery of Australia; most Australian State and regional galleries and by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  A member of the Arts and Crafts Society of Victoria since 1949, he was invited in 1970 to be the patron of the Victorian Ceramic Group, which established an award in his name. In 1978 he was appointed MBE.

He started potting full-time on his retirement in 1963 and remained a most significant and influential figure until his death in 1987. The National Gallery of Victoria showed a retrospective exhibition (with catalogue) in 1969, and another on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 1983, when Craft Australia published a special supplement.   He continued making pots into his nineties, dying in 1987 at the age of 94. His early works are marked H GI (for Glen Iris) in oxide. Works from 1945 are marked with an impressed H GI and may also be signed in oxide.

Predeceased by his wife (1966), and survived by his son, he died at Prahran, Melbourne, on 23 October 1987, and was buried in Springvale cemetery.  In 1978 he was awarded the MBE for his services to pottery.  In the 1940s, potters wheels would have been imported, but as an engineer, he had the ability to design and make his own. He was assisted in the building of kilns and development of clays by his son Robert (Bob) Hughan (b. 1925)

Sources

http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=150295#ixzz2ip2rqVBC Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

http://damonmoon.com/articles/across-the-ditch.html

Pyrex

Designer	Pyrex
Maker	Pyrex
Marks	Moulded ”PYREX” (in capitals) to base
Description	Milky pale blue (turquoise) Pyroceram squared glass bowl with sides tapering to an indented circular footring, tab handle moulded to top outside edge.
Number	No number
Production Date	1950s
Width	110mm
Depth	40mm
Length (with handle)	130mm
Weight	160gm
Volume	200ml
Acquisition	Purchase Camberwell Sunday Market 21 Oct 2013
Condition  Good, slight chips and scratches
Rameking Reference Number	PYR 001-004

Pyrex is a name for glassware introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.  Originally Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass.  In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda lime glass that is now the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware and has a higher mechanical strength so is less vulnerable to breakage when dropped (the main cause of breakage in glass bakeware).

These ramekins are made from a product called Pyroceram.  The manufacture of this material involves a process of controlled crystallization.  NASA classifies it as a “Glass-Ceramic” product.  NASA used a borosilicate coated quartz sand ceramic tile to cover the Space Shuttle providing a heat shield to resist the 3,000 degree F temperature on re entry.

Glass Ceramic materials share many properties with both glass and ceramics.  They have an amorphous phase and one or more crystalline phases and are produced by a “controlled crystallization” in contrast to a spontaneous crystallization that is not usually wanted in glass manufacturing.  Glass ceramics usually have between 30% [m/m] and 90% [m/m] crystallinity and yield an array of materials with interesting thermomechanical properties.

Pyroceram is a material developed and trademarked by Corning Glass in 1953.  Capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 450 degrees C (840 F), its development evolved from Cornings’ work in developing photosensitive glass.  Corning credits S Donald Stookey with its discovery; while he was conducting research he noted that an accidentally overheated fragment of glass resisted breakage when dropped.  These are an early example.

Another Australian Pottery, Studio Anna was also catering for the cookware market at the same time.  Introduced by owner Karel Jungvirt around the early 1960s, possibly as an Australian answer to Corning Ware (which came out in 1958), a range of decorated cookware he called Pyro-Ceracraft was developed. Available in a wide selection of designs and described as oven tableware, this range of heat resistant ceramics included casserole dishes, pie dishes and ramekins and was designed to be attractive enough to be brought straight from the oven to the dinner table.

Glass ceramics are mostly produced in two steps.  Firstly, a glass is formed in a glass manufacturing process.  The glass is then cooled down and is then reheated in a second stage.  In this heat treatment the glass partly crystallizes.  In most cases nucleation agents are added to the base composition of the glass-ceramic.  These nucleation agents aid and control the crystallization process.  Because there is no pressing and sintering, glass-ceramics have no pores , unlike sintered ceramics.  When a liquid crystallizes during a cooling phase of a process, the molecules organize from a primary nucleus to form complex structures.  These structures continue to grow until they impinge on neighbouring molecules, then they stop.  Properties of the item depend on the size of the molecular structures.

For crystal growth to start, a primary process called nucleation has to occur.  This is the focal centre around which the molecules can organize themselves.  The secondary process of crystal growth follows nucleation.   A nucleation agent is a foreign body added to create a new surface on which crystal growth can happen. Typically this phase takes the form of an agent to have a good match with the growing crystal

The 2nd World War saw production of domestic ware drop to fairly low levels at Crown.  Most of their production was servicing the war effort, including contracts for the US Navy.  After the war, some of their early patterns made a comeback, but much of their production turned to ceramic glazed, colourful but streamlined and less decorative items, as was the fashion in the 1950s.  Much of their glass was mould-blown or involved hand tooling, but this ceased in 1968.

During the 1950s and 1960s tableware production continued, especially for homes, hotels restaurants and milk bars.  In 1963 Crown Crystal became a division of Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI) which set up a joint venture with American company Crown Corning in 1968, known in Australia as Crown Corning Ltd.  In 1998 ACI became an affiliate of Owens-Illinois in the USA, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass containers and a leading glass equipment manufacturer.

Crown Corning is now known as Crown Commercial Pty Ltd and continues to produce a large range of glassware for both commercial and domestic markets.  Ramekins of this type are not in the range.  The Crown Crystal Glass Company merged with the American company Corning in 1972 to become Crown Corning.

There is now quite a bit of evidence that Crown Crystal was copying patterns from overseas after 1932.  Copied patterns have confused collectors so be careful on Internet auction sites.  In a case of what goes around comes around, Australian glass patterns are now also being copied, so be doubly careful.  For more information, look at  http://www.ozcrowncrystal.com/  because that is where a lot of this has come from.  Glass is not my area and they have some very interesting information.

McLaren, Gus McLaren

Designer	Gus McLaren
Maker	Gus McLaren
Marks	Signature “Gus McLaren” painted in black to base
Material	Glazed earthenware
Description	Wheel thrown recurved bowl with open-ended knob handle.  Unglazed flat base with circular pattern from wire cutting.  Matte glaze to exterior with magnesium oxide flecks.  Gloss glaze to interior.
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	Early 1970s
Width at rim	80mm
Width at Base	127mm
Depth	78mm
Length (with handle)	187mm
Weight	420gm
Volume	700ml
Acquisition	Purchase Waverley Antiques Market 4th Oct 2013
Rameking Reference Number	GML 001-008

I have compiled the following from anything I could find on the web about Gus.  Much comes from the McLaren Pottery website, Australian Pottery at Bemboka and several other sources.  There is a lot to get through, so please be patient.

William George (Gus) McLaren was born in Melbourne on the 7^th of November 1923 to William and Beryl, Gus became a celebrated Australian artist, animator and potter.   He studies cartooning part-time two nights a week for a year  at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).  His artistic abilities became focuses during his service in the Australian army during World War 2. He enlisted in Western Australia on the 7^th January 1942 and he later served in the pacific.  He painted panels for a recreation tent for wounded Australian and allied soldiers.  This work now resides at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. 

In 1946 as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation forces Press Unit, Gus traveled to Japan to teach art to the Japanese and there he met and was interviewed by a young cartoonist, named Les Tanner, who also worked for BECON (a British and Allied Forces Newspaper).  They produced cartoons for the newspaper they were attached to.  Later Les would become a nationally published political cartoonist.  By early 1947 BCOF had begun to decline and, by the end of 1948, was composed entirely of Australians. The force was dismantled in 1951, when the Japanese Peace Treaty came into effect.

After Gus’ discharge on the 2^nd of February 1949, the friendship endured for over the next fifty years, until Les Tanner's death in 2001.  After the war, Gus moved to Sydney where he worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for the Daily Telegraph and Women's Weekly before moving home to Melbourne where he worked on The Argus newspaper, as the cartoonist "Just Gus" in 1954/55.  When the Argus closed, he read a review left on a desk on a book on pottery.  He found and read the book and began his career by making chess pieces from local clay.  He claims never to have finished it, but he later displayed a chess set at the Australian Gallery.  He later sold a chess set for 50 guineas  ($105.00).

His signed cartoon of four soldiers playing poker with one taking the pot and saying “Well! Well! Ten o’clock, lights out you know”, 1950, brush and ink and blue pencil, 20.5 × 26.3 cm (AWM), is the original for the gag published in the last of the Australian War Memorial’s 19 illustrated Christmas books, As you were (1950). “Gus” also signed a not very good woman driver joke in Melbourne Argus 1956: “The roundabouts confuse me so I always get through them as quickly as possible”.

In the early 1950s, Gus and Elizabeth (Betty) moved to Warrandyte, an outer area of Melbourne popular at the time because of the low cost of land, with artists and potters.  Later (in 1955), he began potting with Reg Preston and was one of the founding members in 1958 of the Potters Cottage at Warrandyte in Victoria.  Reg fired Gus’ chess pieces.  (See my post on Reg Preson for more details on them.)  Reg and his wife Phyll Dunn (see my post) remained friends until their deaths.  They even moved in and shared a house with the Prestons for a time. 

He and Betty were among the founders of the Warrandyte's Potters Cottage, and as his technique developed, he moved into stoneware ceramics and more sculptural projects. He went on to have regular exhibitions in Melbourne and his work was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Tasmanian Art Gallery, Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, University of Queensland and with many private collections in Australia and overseas.

While he concentrated on producing and exhibiting "one-off" pieces of pottery from the 1950s through the '80s, Betty carried on exclusively with the Yarra Ridge Pottery business. Through all these years McLaren also dug clay from the Bradley's Lane site, made mud-earth bricks, and built the family home — always building extensions, always without planning permission.  All this was paid for by his work as a cartoonist.

He was also the main innovator in setting up Potters Restaurant, and later The Hot Pot Shop in South Melbourne, specialising in "peasant" provincial casseroles served in rugged stoneware plates that were enthusiastically souvenired. These eateries were highly successful, but he sold out once the innovative appeal had worn off.

Eventually “Potters Cottage” expanded to encompass a gallery, a flourishing pottery school, and finally a very successful and well known restaurant, “Potters Restaurant” (which Gus was very much involved in the setting up). He was also one of the principle teachers at the Potters School.

Gus and Reg began making pottery together using the name “Regus” (Reg & Gus).  Reg taught betty slipcasting and the team expanded.  Gus and Betty then set up Yarraridge pottery and together and separately, the two produced an extensive body of work. This included wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces, as well as a range of slip-cast figures designed by Gus and decorated by Betty. These designs are still being used by Betty to make figures for sale from her McLarren Pottery on the New South Wales south coast.

Later they moved to their own place in Bradley’s Lane Warrandyte, but continued working at Reg’s pottery until he finished building their own studio.  The house was designed by Architect John Hipwell, another member of Potters Cottage.  In between his other work, Gus made mud bricks to enlarge the home and studio without recourse to permits .  They first moved into a shed which later became the studio.  He exchanged, at modest prices, his work with friends such as John Percival, Gareth Jones-Roberts, Arthur Boyd, and fellow potters. In the 1970s, he and Betty built a "Warrandyte" home at Merimbula, where she moved and began potting during a long separation.

Once in their studio named “Yarra Ridge Pottery” they started producing animals, designed by Gus and slipcast by Betty”.  During this period,   Les Tanner worked on a collaborative project with the McLarens producing a satirical swipe at the establishment of the day, in the form of ceramic jugs, designed by Les and slipcast by Betty of  Sir Henry Bolte, Premier of Victoria in the 1950 to 1970s  They also made a Sir Robert Menzies jug.  (Bob Menzies is still Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister.

In 1962, McLaren became the author of Australia's first animated TV cartoon, at Channel Nine. A trailblazer, he was the co-writer, animator, artist and director of Freddo the Frog for Fanfare Films. He then worked with Hanna Barbera on Scooby Doo, and on the animated feature film Grendel Grendel Grendel, with Peter Ustinov.

Gus began working full-time on animation in the 1970s.  He worked on television commercials, animated feature films including a long stretch with Hannah Barbera.   Gus created the character “Freddo Frog” for MacRobertson Chocolates, now owned by Cadbury Schweppes.  Betty kept the pottery business going while Gus was otherwise occupied, but he would come back for short periods.  Over time, Betty took over operation of the slip casting and decorating process, as well as working on her own hand-painted pieces, supplying the Potters Cottage and other galleries in Victoria.

He became interested in stoneware and built a gas-fired kiln.  (Stoneware is fired at a higher temperature than earthenware.)  This work was becoming increasingly abstract, being less decorative and more sculptural in form using matte ash glaze.  His surfaces were becoming more rugged and textural and his life-long love of Science Fiction was seemingly reflected in the wonderful and fantastic shapes of his ceramic sculptures.

He continued a successful career as a potter and went on to have regular exhibitions in Melbourne and has pieces exhibited in the National Gallery of Victoria. Gus’s work has been represented in the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Tasmanian Art Gallery, Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, University of Queensland and many private collections both in Australia and overseas.

Whilst Gus concentrated producing and exhibiting “one-off” pieces of pottery (and during the periods of his animation) which includes the period from the ‘50’s,’60’s, 70, and 80’s, Betty, carried on exclusively with the Yarraridge Pottery business., producing the animals, decorating and firing pieces (designed by Gus in the ‘50’s/’60’s) such as bulls, horses, lions cats etc. whilst also working on her own designs supplying Potters Cottage and other galleries mainly in Victoria.

In the early 70s’s Gus and Betty purchased land in Merimbula, New South Wales and over the next few years Gus built the house, (where she currently lives). In the early eighties Betty trained their daughter Kirsty McLaren to continue the business of producing the animals in their Warrandyte studio, she ran the business for a couple of years before leaving for London in the mid-eighties to become a photographer where she currently still lives.. Their eldest daughter, Susan, after an early career in fashion modeling, after living in Europe, and is following the family tradition, and has become a ceramic artist, producing highly colourful mosaic designs and ceramic sculptures. Susan now works at the studio in Merimbula helping Beth with producing Gus' designs.  She has two children Ella and Zac, and is now a grandmother to two young boys Oliver and Luca.

The boys, John, headed north to Merimbula, he took after his father in his love of creative stone-walls and landscape gardening, while youngest Tim, has settled in Melbourne with his wife Janine, and son, Liam and divides his time between his passion as a jazz musician [guitarist] and computer programming.

In the early 80s, after a short break, Betty began working again in her new studio in Merimbula and resumed the full and exclusive productions of the animals as well as other work that she produces and designs, continuing to supply Potters Cottage in Warrandyte (as before) right up until its recent close. Betty, now in her 80’s still continues to supply local galleries, as well as galleries far afield, the unique McLaren Pottery animals, which had it’s origins in the 1950’s right through to the present day. 

After Betty moved to Merimbula, NSW, daughter Kirsty ran the pottery at Warrandyte. After Kirsty left for London in the mid-1980s, Betty moved production to Merimbula where she is still producing slip cast animals to Gus's original 1950s and 1960s designs under the name McLaren Pottery. Betty's works are signed 'B Mclaren' or 'Betty McLaren'. McLaren Pottery works are signed 'MCL' or 'McLaren'.  Gus’s ceramic work is signed 'Gus McLaren'.

Gus has ceramic works in both public and private collections. When the Potters Cottage held its 45th anniversary in 2003, he participated in the exhibition.  He also has a considerable body of work in animated films. In 1962 he directed the first animation series made for Australian television, Freddo the Frog and he was one of the animators who worked on Grendel, Grendel, Grendel, a full-length animated film retelling the Beowulf epic released in 1981.

When Betty moved to Merimbula in the early 1980s, Gus remained in Melbourne, but returned to live with his family in West Richmond before his death in 2008.  Early in 2008, Gus asked his daughters to take him back to Merimbula, where he lived with his family.  Gus died of pneumonia and heart failure on the 29^th of August 2008 at Pambula Hospital in New South Wales. He was 84.

He enjoyed his morning coffee with The Age  and he was buried with a copy of the newspaper on the Merimbula waterfront, enthusiastically telling visitors of his pleasure in the town, and in again being with his children Susan, Kirsty, John and Tim, and Betty, who survive him. Betty, a living national treasure is now 86 and the last of the original Potters Cottage group.  She  is still working at Merimbula with the help of daughter Susan.  

Luke Nguyen

Designer	Not Known
Maker	Made for Luke Nguyen by Baccarat
Marks	No marks on ramekins.  Name “Luke Nguyen” printed on bottom right-hand corner of platter; initials “LG” to left hand corner.
Material	Ramekins; Soft paste porcelain, 22ct gold to handle and exterior, Platter is laminated bamboo.
Description	Gilded bowl with white gloss glazed interior slightly indented footring base dimpled inwards from footring.
Condition	Good, some wear to gilding on footring
Number	No number
Production Date	Early 2000s
Width at rim	60mm
Width at base	40mm
Depth	23mm
Length (with handle)	97mm
Weight	90 gm
Volume	35 mm
Acquisition	Purchase Salvo Stores, Noble Park 30th September 2013
Rameking Reference Number	LNG 001-004

These four little ramekins form a tasting sampler platter.  These platters are used in some restaurants for patrons to try various dishes.  These were made for Australian restaurateur Luke Nguyen by Baccarat cookware, a brand of Playgroup Pty Ltd located in St Kilda Road, Melbourne.  Tasting samplers are made for other purposes, such as for holding small glasses of different beers.

Luke is an award winning Sydney Restaurateur and Chef (at the “Red Lantern” restaurant in Surrey Hills).  He is also an author of several books on cooking and has hosted a television series on Vietnam and its food.  Luke was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1978 to Vietnamese parents who had fled the country some months earlier.  He has also apperared as a guest chef on the television show Masterchef, season 2., and “Masterchef Vietnam”.  He also takes tour groups to Vietnam to experience their cuisine and learn to cook it.  In partnership, he founded the “Little Lantern Foundation” giving disadvantaged youth training in the hospitality industry.

Lustre Gold ramekins like these are press-moulded soft paste porcelain with 22 Carat gold applied to the exterior of the bowl.  Gilding, as it is known, on pottery is a complex and difficult method to learn and can be done using several differing methods.  Over five tonnes of gold are still used each year to gild ceramics.  Gold can be sprayed, brushed, screen-printed, acid etched or mixed with resin.  Early methods involved mixing the gold with mercury or honey giving the body a bright rich honey gold colour when fired at a relatively low temperature.  Ancient gilding on the wood of Egyptian mummy cases is still as bright as original. 

The method most used commonly for lining ceramics with gold is to mix gold powder and borax (borosilicate or a bismuth based flux).  The resulting powder is brushed onto the pottery with a very fine brush (usually camel hair).  When the mixture dries, because it is mixed with water it is fired, during which the borax is burnt off and the gold melts into the body.  The pottery comes out brown and must be burnished (polished) with a stone, usually agate to bring out the gold colour. 

Any further information would be appreciated. maybe Luke can get in touch?

One of the things that I have often lamented on this blog has been the loss of industry as a result of Government policy and imports.  In the case of Royal Worcester, had it not been for the collapse of the glove making industry in Worcester in the mid 18^th Century, Royal Worcester would not have come into being.  A number of local businessmen got together and decided to start a pottery.

One of the things that I have often lamented on this blog has been the loss of industry as a result of Government policy and imports.  In the case of Royal Worcester, had it not been for the collapse of the glove making industry in Worcester in the mid 18^th Century, Royal Worcester would not have come into being.  A number of local businessmen got together and decided to start a pottery.

One of the things that I have often lamented on this blog has been the loss of industry as a result of Government policy and imports.  In the case of Royal Worcester, had it not been for the collapse of the glove making industry in Worcester in the mid 18^th Century, Royal Worcester would not have come into being.  A number of local businessmen got together and decided to start a pottery.

One of the things that I have often lamented on this blog has been the loss of industry as a result of Government policy and imports.  In the case of Royal Worcester, had it not been for the collapse of the glove making industry in Worcester in the mid 18^th Century, Royal Worcester would not have come into being.  A number of local businessmen got together and decided to start a pottery.

Studio Anna (2)

Designer	Karel Jungvirt
Maker	Studio Anna
Marks	Unmarked
Material	Glazed slipware
Description	Press-moulded gloss-glazed cream coloured slipware with black interior.  Sgraffito to interior of various New Zealand designs.  Raised teardrop shaped footring with unglazed base.
Condition	Very Good
Number	No number
Production Date	Late 1950s
Width at rim	188mm
Width at Base	115mm
Depth	27mm
Length (with handle)	118mm
Weight	180gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition	Purchase Waverley Antiques Bazaar 20 Sept 2013
Rameking Reference Number	STA 009-012

Not strictly ramekins, more like a bowl with a large curved handle, but close enough for me, these 1950s sgraffito bowls are from Studio Anna.  Although one has a New Zealand Made sticker, it is unmistakably Studio Anna.  The black and white sgraffito and curved teardrop shape is a typical Jungvirt design.  This type of tourist ware was produced throughout much of their life and exported throughout New Zealnd and the Pacific.  Much of this tourist ware was portraying Australian Aboriginals or pseudo-Aboriginal motifs.  These are of New Zealand.

Karel Jungvirt, born 15^th August 1927 was a sculptor and artist who had trained in Prgue and Munich before escaping the 1948 Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia and arriving in Australia in late 1951. His pottery career in Australia began in 1952 when, initially employed as a mould maker with Diana Pottery in Marrickville, he was soon designing and making models there.  His skill as a potter won him the Diplome de Honeur and a gold medal at the 1955 Cannes International Exhibition of Modern Ceramics.  Despite much effort from him, he never got the actual medal though.

It was during his stint with Diana that he met Toni Coles, an East Sydney Technical College graduate who had previously been working in commercial advertising, illustrating catalogues. Coles had started working as a ceramic decorator at Diana pottery for what she thought would just be a temporary diversion.

But she enjoyed the work so much that she decided to stay on.  Karel and Toni were married in 1953 and their partnership also became a business one when Karel set up a small pottery in the basement of their flat in Neutral Bay.   When it came to registering their pottery - Studio Anna - as a business, local council restrictions meant that they had to find premises in an industrial zone in order to operate. Thus in April 1954 they moved to Shepherd Street, Marrickville, that was to be the home of Studio Anna until its closure in 1999. During its period of operation the business would expand to include the 2 adjoining properties.

From around 1954, orders came to Studio Anna as a result of its displays within the Ceramic Art and Fine Ware Association exhibitions. These were held at Anthony Horderns' Fine Art Gallery in Anthony Horderns' Department Store. A major exhibition of Australian ceramics by a number of potteries at Proud's store in Sydney to coincide with the Melbourne Olympics, also generated healthy sales for Studio Anna.

 
Following World War 2, Sydney became a popular holiday destination, particularly for American and European tourists.  Karel capitalised on the resulting demand for souvenirs with an Australian theme by creating slipcast decorated earthenware ceramics designed specifically for this market.  Ceramics decorated with local scenes and Aboriginal themes were particularly sought after by both tourists and locals - thus adaptations of Aboriginal cave and bark paintings as well as images of Aboriginal people became popular (for Studio Anna and a number of other commercial potteries) throughout the 1950s and 60s.

Souvenir shops as such did not exist in Sydney in the 1950s, so Jungvirt approached Swain's Newsagency as a potential stockist for Studio Anna ware. This was a smart move because the extended trading hours allowed to a small number of businesses, including newsagencies.  At this time meant that Studio Anna ceramics would be available to the tourist market when department stores and gift shops were closed.   Studio Anna was then employing a number of skilled artists as decorators.

Several of these artists would make personal appearances in department stores, demonstrating their decorating skills and generating further interest in Studio Anna ceramics. Toni Jungvirt in particular travelled as far afield as Tasmania and Queensland making well publicised in-store appearances, often over the period of a week.

At its peak, Studio Anna employed over 30 staff and by 1957 their ceramic ware was not only distributed widely in Australia, but was also being exported to such places as Tahiti, New Zealand, Fiji, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. But 1957 also saw a major blow dealt to Studio Anna and other commercial potteries in the form of the Australia-Japan Agreement on Commerce negotiated by Australian Trade Minister in the Menzies government, John 'Black Jack' McEwan.  This agreement opened the doors for a mass of cheap Japanese ceramics to enter the Australian market.  Many local commercial potteries producing hand-decorated ware, were forced out of business by this competition, but Studio Anna's decorating department, with a reduced staff, managed to survive. 

In the late 1960s, with public demand for Studio Anna's range of souvenirs increasing, Karel Jungvirt took the step of opening his own souvenir shop, which he named Australiana, in Sydney's newly built Australia Square. Such was the popularity of this store, which in addition to ceramics also carried craftwork made by an Aboriginal mission station and tea towels designed by Studio Anna artists (along with toy koalas and kangaroos), that eventually a total of five Australiana stores were operating in the Sydney area, including one in the MLC centre.

In addition to its decorative souvenirs, Studio Anna was also catering for the cookware market. Introduced around the early 1960s, possibly as an Australian answer to Corning Ware (which came out in 1958), a range of decorated cookware called Pyro-Ceracraft was developed. Available in a wide selection of designs and described as oven tableware, this range of heat resistant ceramics included casserole dishes, pie dishes and ramekins and was designed to be attractive enough to be brought straight from the oven to the dinner table. As such, matching salt and pepper shakers, table heaters and candle holders also formed part of the range.

 
With hand decorated ceramics becoming less and less cost effective for Studio Anna, Jungvirt's next innovation was Fiana ware. Appearing in about the mid 1970s, Fiana ware was a range of glazed kitchen storage canisters with matching salt and pepper shakers, cruet sets, jugs and sugar bowls available in such contemporary colours as antique orange, citrus yellow, olive gold and orange red. Instead of hand painted decoration though, decals (transfers) were now being used. Studio Anna's decorating department continued to operate, only closing in 1982 when Toni Coles left the business.

When kitchenware was no longer in demand and with the introduction of duty free shops taking the tourist market from Australiana stores, Karel decided to diversify once more. Catering to the hotel and serviced apartment market in Sydney, Studio Anna started producing glazed lamp bases, even exporting them to Japan. They also took one-off commissions, which included tiled panels and a jug and decanter set commemorating the centenary of the NSW Government Expedition to Lord Howe Island in 1882.

In 1999 after many years of illness, during which time he still managed to run the business, Karel Jungvirt finally sold the pottery, returning to Czechoslovakia where he died the following year.

 

Mystery Maker Unmarked (Plastic)

Designer	Not known
Maker	Not known
Marks	No marks
Material	Injection moulded plastic
Description	Square bowl with rounded corners.  Single external colour with white interior.  Circular footring and tab handle to one corner.
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	Early 1970s?
Width at rim	128mm
Width at Base	75mm
Depth	45mm
Length (with handle)	163mm
Weight	107gm
Volume	375ml
Acquisition	Purchase Camberwell Sunday Market 8th August 2013
Rameking Reference Number	MMU-P-001-011

Not all ramekins were ceramic.  As technology progressed, new materials became the norm.  Look at your keyboard dear reader.  The chances are that its plastic keys were formed by injection moulding.  Since the Second World War, the uses for injection moulded polymer material had exploded.  These ramekins are another example. There are many different types of injection moulding, but commonly, granular plastic is gravity fed into a hopper where it moves into a heated chamber where it melts.  A plunger advances, forcing the melted plastic through an opening into the mould.  Because the mould is kept cold, the plastic solidifies as soon as the mould is filled.

These particular ramekins were made using co-injection moulding process that creates a skin and core arrangement.  The skin material is injected first followed by a core material.   The white interior of the ramekin is injected first, followed by the exterior.  The white plastic cools and the green plastic flows around it, also cooling.  The nozzle at the base is then closed and the ramekin expelled from the mould.  The mark on the base where the plastic was injected in clearly visible in the centre of the base.