Illinois State Museum
Submitted by Scott V., Chicago
This is the historical story that I posted along with a photo of an Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth coffee cup that I posted on Facebook during the crisis. This is one of 30+ coffee cups that I have already posted on my Facebook groups. You can see my other coffee cup posts on Instagram... ATOMICSCOTT.
Having coffee today with my favorite mid-century modern cup and saucer from my absolute favorite dinnerware designer… Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth in the Pals pattern! The tablecloth is a Russel Wright design for Simtex. Today's history is longer than usual.
Of all Eva’s dinnerware lines, none better exemplified her design philosophy of linking the past and present, combining practicality with fun, or better displayed her virtuosity than Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth. Consisting of fifty-one pieces, the line was organized into basic dinnerware, a kitchenware line, and a group of unique, bird-shaped serving pieces, all available in fifteen patterns and three solid glazes. It was easily her most comprehensive dinnerware line. Although many of the shapes and patterns were reminiscent of folk art, the line was sufficiently modern to earn a place in the Museum of Modern Art’s 1954 Good Design exhibit.
In the early 1950s, Monmouth, a division of the Western Stoneware Company, in Monmouth, Illinois, was experiencing a decline in orders because of increased foreign competition. In 1952, hoping to bolster sales, company president Addis Hull, whose brother headed Hull Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio (for which Eva had designed a small line of decorative wares) invited Eva to design a line of dinnerware and dining accessories.
Eva had never designed dinnerware made out of stoneware, but she brought new thinking to the design process. Stoneware was usually thick-walled and heavy, but Eva envisioned and developed elegant, informal pieces made out of unusually lighter and finer stoneware. It took Eva and the ceramic engineers at Monmouth over a year to develop the line, introducing new equipment and sharpening the company’s engineering to assure trouble-free production.
During development, Eva stayed at a local hotel with her room doubling as a design office. Within the family of dinnerware she developed, decidedly modern forms were unexpectedly grouped together with bird-like shapes… perhaps inspired by a family heirloom, folk art duck decoy that Eva kept in her home. Patterns were a delightful mix of modern and folk-art designs.
Eva seldom created patterns for her dinnerware lines, but Fine Stoneware was an exception. Gerald Gulotta, one of Eva’s Pratt Institute design students, traveled to Monmouth to collaborate with her to develop patterns. During the summer months, Eva’s children John and Jeannie stayed there and helped with patterns, too. There was much fun and experimentation during the process. Many of the patterns initially were created using a potato stamp method… later translated to rubber stamps for production. Playful and abstract, and a standout among the fifteen patterns, Eva described the dancing creatures in her Pals pattern as “turnip people!”
As was customary at Western Stoneware, Eva paid for the tooling and retained ownership of the dinnerware shapes and slip-cast molds, while the company retained rights to the patterns and production. Because she had a stake in Fine Stoneware’s success, Eva distributed the line through her own Eva Zeisel Associates.
Eva had put her heart and soul into the design of this dinnerware, and when it was introduced at trade shows and promoted in 1953, it met with high praise. Many department stores placed substantial orders and with the line in full production, success seemed to be eminent. However, because of continued problems with a downturn in orders for its other products, Western Stoneware laid off workers. As was customary with union labor rules, the youngest workers with the least seniority were the first to go. These were the workers who Eva had trained to decorate her Fine Stoneware dinnerware. Despite pleas from Eva and Western Stoneware, the union would not budge on its rules of who would be laid off. A strike ensued and the factory closed. By the time the factory reopened with new owners, the special kiln used to make Fine Stoneware had been destroyed in a fire.
Since Eva owned the rights to this line of dinnerware, she would make two more attempts to revive the line: in 1957 with Hollydale Pottery in California and again in 1964 with Nihon Koshitsu Toki Company in Japan (which I’ll show in tomorrow’s coffee cup post).
Modern with a link to folk traditions, beautiful and fun, Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth was unique and comfortably familiar at the same time. It was the dinnerware that Eva kept in her kitchen cabinets and used in her own home.
Submitted by Scott V., Chicago
This is the historical story that I posted along with a photo of an Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth coffee cup that I posted on Facebook during the crisis. This is one of 30+ coffee cups that I have already posted on my Facebook groups. You can see my other coffee cup posts on Instagram... ATOMICSCOTT.
Having coffee today with my favorite mid-century modern cup and saucer from my absolute favorite dinnerware designer… Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth in the Pals pattern! The tablecloth is a Russel Wright design for Simtex. Today's history is longer than usual.
Of all Eva’s dinnerware lines, none better exemplified her design philosophy of linking the past and present, combining practicality with fun, or better displayed her virtuosity than Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth. Consisting of fifty-one pieces, the line was organized into basic dinnerware, a kitchenware line, and a group of unique, bird-shaped serving pieces, all available in fifteen patterns and three solid glazes. It was easily her most comprehensive dinnerware line. Although many of the shapes and patterns were reminiscent of folk art, the line was sufficiently modern to earn a place in the Museum of Modern Art’s 1954 Good Design exhibit.
In the early 1950s, Monmouth, a division of the Western Stoneware Company, in Monmouth, Illinois, was experiencing a decline in orders because of increased foreign competition. In 1952, hoping to bolster sales, company president Addis Hull, whose brother headed Hull Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio (for which Eva had designed a small line of decorative wares) invited Eva to design a line of dinnerware and dining accessories.
Eva had never designed dinnerware made out of stoneware, but she brought new thinking to the design process. Stoneware was usually thick-walled and heavy, but Eva envisioned and developed elegant, informal pieces made out of unusually lighter and finer stoneware. It took Eva and the ceramic engineers at Monmouth over a year to develop the line, introducing new equipment and sharpening the company’s engineering to assure trouble-free production.
During development, Eva stayed at a local hotel with her room doubling as a design office. Within the family of dinnerware she developed, decidedly modern forms were unexpectedly grouped together with bird-like shapes… perhaps inspired by a family heirloom, folk art duck decoy that Eva kept in her home. Patterns were a delightful mix of modern and folk-art designs.
Eva seldom created patterns for her dinnerware lines, but Fine Stoneware was an exception. Gerald Gulotta, one of Eva’s Pratt Institute design students, traveled to Monmouth to collaborate with her to develop patterns. During the summer months, Eva’s children John and Jeannie stayed there and helped with patterns, too. There was much fun and experimentation during the process. Many of the patterns initially were created using a potato stamp method… later translated to rubber stamps for production. Playful and abstract, and a standout among the fifteen patterns, Eva described the dancing creatures in her Pals pattern as “turnip people!”
As was customary at Western Stoneware, Eva paid for the tooling and retained ownership of the dinnerware shapes and slip-cast molds, while the company retained rights to the patterns and production. Because she had a stake in Fine Stoneware’s success, Eva distributed the line through her own Eva Zeisel Associates.
Eva had put her heart and soul into the design of this dinnerware, and when it was introduced at trade shows and promoted in 1953, it met with high praise. Many department stores placed substantial orders and with the line in full production, success seemed to be eminent. However, because of continued problems with a downturn in orders for its other products, Western Stoneware laid off workers. As was customary with union labor rules, the youngest workers with the least seniority were the first to go. These were the workers who Eva had trained to decorate her Fine Stoneware dinnerware. Despite pleas from Eva and Western Stoneware, the union would not budge on its rules of who would be laid off. A strike ensued and the factory closed. By the time the factory reopened with new owners, the special kiln used to make Fine Stoneware had been destroyed in a fire.
Since Eva owned the rights to this line of dinnerware, she would make two more attempts to revive the line: in 1957 with Hollydale Pottery in California and again in 1964 with Nihon Koshitsu Toki Company in Japan (which I’ll show in tomorrow’s coffee cup post).
Modern with a link to folk traditions, beautiful and fun, Eva Zeisel Fine Stoneware from Monmouth was unique and comfortably familiar at the same time. It was the dinnerware that Eva kept in her kitchen cabinets and used in her own home.