Berlin Bound!

I've just got back from a working and (thankfully, latterly) pleasure weekend in Berlin. The results of my Fat Lava this time hunt were rather surprising! I found one design shop in trendy Mitte where they actually had a selection of Fat Lava on display in their vintage design section. This is the first time I have ever seen a proper display in a shop in Germany. Amazingly, the pieces were generally too expensive for me to buy, ranging from 50 to 90 euros, and upwards. I know this isn't too much all told, but it's more than I am used to paying and more than I am used to seeing them priced at, particularly in Germany. It was interesting to see that the staff was comprised mainly of young people, as were many of the customers. I showed them my bookalogue and asked what they thought of the pots themselves and, for once, got a highly positive response. They loved the wild colours! Maybe the new generation is finally waking up to Fat Lava, perhaps as they don't remember them being so dreadful and indicative of the 1960s and 70s as their parents do. Furthermore, Marita, the lady who sold me a large Fat Lava sgraffito horse vase from her vintage clothing shop off FriedrichStrasse, said that she knew something was going on in the area because two English guys came in two weeks before and bought as much as they could carry! I wonder what they got? However, despite this positivism from the trendier, more avant garde end of the market in Mitte, I did get an utterly horrified gasp when I asked for Fat Lava in the main antiques and collectables centre, 'Why on EARTH would you want that? Do you really think we would sell such things?!'" Honestly, the Luddites.....!

2006 In Print

New year's resolutions, and all that, have finally pushed me to scan and post a couple of press articles from 2006 that may interest you. They just go to show how both West German ceramics and Mdina and Isle of Wight Studio Glass are spreading, and generally becoming more notable and noteworthy subjects. Some national newspapers have even taken notice - the Financial Times (below) and Guardian included! If you go to the 'In The Media' page under either Fat Lava or Michael Harris in the menu on the left of my website, or click on those links, you'll be able to see each of them.

Build Your West German Ceramics Library...

Firstly, happy new year to one and all. The first new news of the year is that, at last, Dr Horst Makus' landmark publication 'Keramik der 50er Jahre' (Ceramics of the 1950s) has been re-released. It was last published in 1998 and has become increasingly impossible to find over the last 9 years. My gap-filling copy has just come through from my local book shop, and I would certainly recommend getting hold of one yourselves. It is nothing less than excellent, thoroughly comprehensive and unbelievably good value at $75 or £45. You can find it at the publisher's website - www.arnoldsche.de. Do bear in mind that the text is in German, however - but it is still without doubt a 'must-have'.
On that note, if you don't know about it already, also check out the wonderful book on 1960s-70s West German Ceramics published in the middle of last year by prolific collector and expert M.P. Thomas, in Germany. It is in German again, but still well worth having. After all, a picture speak a thousand words! It also includes a large section on the influential German studio potter Schaffenacker, which is unique in its scope to my knowledge. You can find a link to the author's website by clicking here.

Fat Lava goes international!

Hot on the heels of the Maltese-based 'Mdina Collectors Club', comes an even more exciting venture out of Toronto in Canada. A number of dedicated Fat Lava enthusiasts have just founded the 'Fat Lava Collectors' Club', in association with the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. The small but perfectly formed group held their first meeting last week (see picture below), and I have to say that although I couldn't make it myself from London, it looked like great fun as well as educational. Membership is free, and members will receive an e-newsletter 'LavaFlow~'. What's more, there's talk of including Fat Lava in the R.O.M.'s new 20th century design gallery, AND a weekend of events at the Museum, including an illustrated talk by me, planned for the 27th-28th October 2007. I don't want to post the secretary's email address here and curse her with gallons of junk mail, so email me if you'd like to join and I'll send the address back to you.
As most of you may know, Fat Lava was exported all over the world in its day, particularly to Canada, Australia and New Zealand - I wonder what the inventive designers and decorators would have thought of the growing international interest in their work, some 30-40 years later?! Go Toronto!

Austrian vs West German Ceramics

I'm sure many of you will have seen what you think is a West German ceramic, which then turns out to be Austrian - with the word AUSTRIA moulded on the base. I have been keeping my eye on these to try and work out who made them. Earlier this week I bought a nice Carstens baluster vase, decorated with a circular variant of Carstens' 'Ankara' pattern. It's quite a complex glaze combination and pattern, so I was amazed to see that the base was in fact moulded 'AUSTRIA'. So, did an Austrian company copy this glaze, and effectively 'rip it off', or did Carstens license the pattern to another factory? I think neither, and that all (or the majority of) Austrian ceramics that look like West German ceramics were made by Carstens in Germany. It's known that Carstens had a sales office or branch in Austria (as well as Australia, Brasil and even Chile!), and it may have been easier to export their wares to certain countries if they were not marked 'Germany' - after all in 1960, the war had only ended 15 years before. Not only that, but they would also appeal to to the Austrians themselves who, surprisingly, refer to their country frequenty as 'Austria' and not always 'Östereich'. M.P. Thomas also says that between 1953 and 1959, Carstens produced ceramics under the notable Austrian name 'Goldscheider', when that company moved to Fredeslöh in Germany, where Carstens was based.
So I called my friend and fellow collector Dr Graham Cooley with my hypothesis, and he confirmed that of the Austrian vases in his collection, all were in Carstens shapes and glazes. Not only that, but I had a call from him yesterday evening when he told me that he had just found a West German type vase marked 'AUSTRIA' with a foil label bearing the name 'Keramos' followed by the wording 'Carstens Qualitat' - which means 'Carstens Quality'. So, I think this goes to prove my hypothesis that many West German type vases marked 'AUSTRIA' were in fact made by Carstens in Germany. Interesting, huh?

On the road with Judith Miller

One of the most enjoyable, and often surprising, tasks my job entails is meeting people and discussing their collections. This can be for publication in one of our books, for valuation or - in this case - on a book signing tour. With Autumn's cold mornings and evenings showing us Summer really was over, Judith and I set off up the M1 to criss-cross the country. Our destinations over the next few days included Ashbourne in Derbyshire, Heswall in the Wirral, and ended up on the Isle of Man. Virtually every time a Judith Miller book-signing occurs, so does a mini-'antiques roadshow' type of valuation event. See below for a couple of the very exciting things we came across.


















The welcoming and friendly team at The Dovedale Gallery bookshop, in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, proudly holding copies of Judith's latest books.







At the valuation event, one lucky collector brought in this truly incredible mid-19th century oil on canvas painting of the first Maori to be (wrongly) imprisoned by the British. Politically sensitive? Yes. Historically important? Most certainly. Valuable? Without a doubt. That's why a say 'lucky' collector. It's impossible to value this sort of item precisely as it is both unique and of great importance. Like everything, it's worth what someone would pay. So how much would someone pay? I'd think a six figure sum - easily.

Judith and I were also lucky enough to come across a beautiful 1930s French Boch Freres vase in Heswall. With a book on Art Deco recently published, Judith was her usual self - a mine of information. We both explained that even as recently as three or four years ago, this vase may have fetched around £100-200, however, collectors have re-appraised the company's work and Art Deco is very fashionable right now, meaning a vase like this may now fetch around £800-1,200, or more. Coincidentally, Judith had recently seen a very similar example for sale at David Rago in New Jersey, USA, which was estimated at around $2,000. Nice find!
All the bookshops we visited had long queues of people eager to know more about their treasured heirlooms or recent finds. The one thing we always like to point out is that something does not need to be valuable to be interesting. So, never fear if you would like to bring something along to one of our events - whatever it is that you have. There's a story in everything, and we'd love to meet you! For more information on future events, keep an eye on the Events page of my website.