One of the things I love most about Los Angeles is its modern architecture. From the deco sweep of City Hall to the fresh crispness of Neutra's Silverlake homes, from the whimsical googie shapes of Pann's coffee shops to the weightiness of Frank Lloyd Wright's Mayan-inspired concrete block mansions, LA has some great design going on.
This exuberant design aesthetic can be found inside buildings, too, and one of the most ubiquitous examples of this is California Pottery. From the late 1880s to the 1960s, ceramics companies flourished in California, and one of the grand dames of that time was the J.A. Bauer Pottery Company. (Bauer: Classic American Pottery by Mitch Tuchman and California Pottery: From Missions to Modernism by Bill Stern are good places to read more; also, any of Jack Chipman's books) Bauer's dishes - glazed turqoise, cobalt, yellow and orange in the 1930s - are a little slice of the sunny California Dream. Once everyday crockery selling for pennies, these dishes now collect high prices on ebay.
Despair not, however, because a few years ago Bauer was reborn as a new ceramics studio. The folks running it have reintroduced some of the original pieces, concentrating mainly on reproducing designs from the 1930s and 40s. All those collectors out there paying seventeen bajillion dollars for their oilpots may recoil in horror at this "new" Bauer, but I love it. For one, it offers a viable way of owning some of these great ceramic pieces. For another, it perpetuates a part of Los Angeles history. And, to make things even better for thrifty crafty folk like you and me, every December they run a year-end holiday sale where they offer irregulars at dirt cheap prices and regular stock at 10% off. (The sale runs for the next two weekends, so if you need a last minute holiday gift - or just love good dish - you still have time to go.)
It has been several years since Tom and I went to the sale, but yesterday Sknitty, Tom and I popped in first thing. Their warehouse is a funny little building tucked behind some other industrial warehouses at the end of a cul de sac. Inside are shelves bursting with dishes and serious shoppers roaming among them. I only had a few things on my list, and came away with the most important: these adorable food bowls for our kitty Maggie and a 9" yellow nesting bowl to replace the one I've chipped badly.
To recharge the batteries, we then boogied on over to Eat Well and had a full-on breakfast. Once back home, trying to stave off a nap, I wet blocked the pink sweater, worked a couple of rows on Hanging Garden and dug into the felted striped bag from One Skein. What a glorious Sunday.
5 comments:
What a faboo time! The dishes are so cool, and I can't wait to see cardi all seamed up.
Sounds like you all had a great time. Thanks for the very interesting blog post. I love pottery stores. The sweater is almost done, looking forward to seeing it.
Sounds like a really great outing! We went over to Catalina this summer with visiting family (my first trip!) and I was enthralled by the ceramic tiles used throughout the touristy areas. There was some info about them at the museum shop. I don't know if there is any connection to your Bauer pottery, just sayin'.
The bowls for your kitty are great, and make me think about getting some for the Black Sisters.... Sigh.
What a busy day you had! I will not go to the Bauer store... must not... after all, I'm in the throes of destashing my Bauer. Not the Ring, but the plain dinnerware. I know, I know, I'll take pics and post them... The pinky looks great too, all it needs now is buttons, right? Just like my Pea Pod!
What a great day! I didn't know about the Bauer store. I have to go! I love dishes...actually, anything kitchen/food related. And Nikko needs new dishes too. :) Thanks for sharing your excursion. The pink cardi is looking good!
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