Made in America, Cherished for Generations. A fresh new way to purchase classic California Pottery made by Franciscan, Metlox & Vernon Kilns. Restaurant dinnerware is now available from Wallace China of Los Angeles & Tepco China of El Cerrito. Enjoy beautifully arranged photography of your favorite mid century modern dinnerware patterns.
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"Our America" 1939 Serving Platter
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Vernon Kilns Lei Lani by Aloha Don Blanding
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Blanding's paintings often portray undersea views, flowers and branches. Underwater Scene, from 1927-30, demonstrates his use of sharp outlines and lack of shading. His ink drawings are a powerful part of his many literary publications. From 1938 to 1942, Don Blanding designed Hawaiian themed tableware for Vernon Kilns, near Los Angeles, California. The patterns he designed are Aquarium, Coral Reef, Delight, Ecstasy, Glamour, Hawaii, Hawaiian Flowers, Hilo, Honolulu, and Lei Lani. Lei Lani by Aloha Don Blanding; a transfer-printed center and border, with hand-painted details. Produced in the Ultra and the San Marino shapes. One of the most popular patterns produced by Vernon Kilns, and was available from 1938 to 1942.
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Textured! Bold! Primitive! California Aztec
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The subdued effect of grey and black on the soft grey-flecked satin glaze should prove a welcome relief to the discriminating homemaker. The neutral shades and primitive pattern
of AZTEC blend decoratively with your table mats and napkins. Hand decorated, oven-safe, detergent proof and durable. Designed under the direction of Allen & Shaw. Buy the bargain starter set and add open stock extra pieces from time to time. 
Metlox Potteries of Manhattan Beach, California produced the glazed earthenware "Aztec"; making its debut in 1955. Aztec was the third in a series of four "Freeform" shapes.
The Designer of the Freeform shape was Frank Irwin, & it was introduced in 1954. The Designer of the Aztec pattern was Robert Allen, & it was introduced in 1955. Part of the "Poppytrail" Line; the Freeform Shape, California "Aztec" pattern is a glazed white earthenware with grey flecks. It has a transfer-printed decorative band along the inside edge; consisting of a dark grey ribbon superimposed on a light grey band of elongated oval shapes. |
Rockwell Kent Design for Vernon Kilns, California
Rockwell Kent, artist, author, and political activist, had a long and varied career. During his lifetime, he worked as an architectural draftsman, illustrator, printmaker, painter, lobsterman, ship's carpenter, and dairy farmer. Born in Tarrytown Heights, New York, he lived in Maine, Newfoundland, Alaska, Greenland, and the Adirondacks and explored the waters around Tierra del Fuego in a small boat. Kent's paintings, lithographs, and woodcuts often portrayed the bleak and rugged aspects of nature; a reflection of his life in harsh climates. Kent both wrote and illustrated several books; Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska was published in 1920. Among his other works were Voyaging Southward from the Strait of Magellan (1924); Salamina (1934) about Greenland; and two autobiographies, This is My Own (1940) and It's me O Lord (1955).
Rockwell Kent design for Vernon Kilns, California. According to the author of the book "The Salamina pattern was adapted from Rockwell Kent's best selling book Salamina which he wrote and illustrated". The owner of Vernon Kilns, visited Rockwell Kent in the late 1930s at his studio in New York and convinced him that there was opportunity for him working for Vernon Kilns. The artist was already well known for his Christmas cards, bookplates, book dust jackets, posters and advertisements. Kent's classic Salamina, which he wrote and illustrated, served as the basis for the dinnerware patterns of the same name. Kent's Salamina, named for his housekeeper, was the chronicle of his life from Greenland. Rockwell Kent stated in the book that "Salamina was the most faithful, most noble, most beautiful and altogether captivating of all women of North Greenland". The author of the book states that "this was the only Kent design that was hand-tinted and considered the most valuable of all Kent dinnerware". |
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Metlox Mosaic Originals & Tropicana
California Casual Patio
California Casual Patio
Mosaic Originals was a series of satin white decorative pieces featuring a pattern of small blue, turquoise, ivory and gold squares. Tropicana pattern was available in a hand painted pineapple or tropical fish motif; patterns were designed by Helen McIntosh. Legendary designers Bob Allen and Mel Shaw developed the line.
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Sascha Brastoff
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Classic California
Mid Century Modern Design |
While working at 20th Century Fox, Brastoff opened a small decorative arts studio producing hand painted earthenware. The business was so successful that he quit the studio and in 1953, backed by wealthy modern-design aficionado (and future governor of Arkansas) Winthrop Rockefeller, opened a much larger ceramics factory and showroom. The 35,000-square-foot facility was designed by blue-chip modernist architect A. Quincy Jones. Unfortunately the elegant building was torn down in 1981.
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The Hawaiian Garden
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Aloha ! Welcome to the Hawaiian Garden. During the late 1930's & well into the 1940's America had a fascination with tropical design & décor. During World War II, U.S. military families were stationed at Pearl Harbor. They bought Hawaiian furniture & fixtures, as it was too expensive to ship traditional heavy wooden furniture to Hawaii. Don Blanding was hired in 1936 by California-based Vernon Kilns to design Hawaiian styled patterns for a line of dinnerware to compliment the tropical furniture.
Click on the jet to enter the garden : 
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gr8am pottery presents Winchester 73 & Frontier Days as our feature pattern for February 2016. Designed to be marketed in conjunction with the new movie "Winchester 73" starring James Stewart and Shelly Winters. This pattern was introduced in 1950 to tie-in Vernon Kilns dinnerware to the movie. The pattern was also coordinated with Heisey glassware with similar design and name.
Due to a change in the movie's premier date, the promotion did not work. Neither Heisey nor Vernon Kilns could develop the wares and advertising quickly enough to meet the new date. It is now a very rare pattern. Vernon Kilns would later market the western themed dinnerware as "Frontier Days". 
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Winchester '73 is a 1950 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, and Stephen McNally. Written by Borden Chase and Robert L. Richards, the film is about the journey of a prized rifle from one ill-fated owner to another and a cowboy's search for a murderous fugitive. The movie features early film performances by Rock Hudson as an American Indian, Tony Curtis, and James Best. The film received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Written American Western. It was filmed in black and white. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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Metlox
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Metlox
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Metlox Potteries of Manhattan Beach, California produced the glazed earthenware "California Mobile"; making its debut in 1954. The Designer of the Freeform shape was Frank Irwin in 1954. The Designer of the pattern was Robert Allen. Part of the "Poppytrail" Line & the Freeform Shape, "California Mobile" pattern is a glazed white earthenware with purple & aqua green main colors. |
Metlox Potteries of Manhattan Beach, California produced the glazed earthenware "Contempora"; making its debut in 1955. The Designer of the Freeform shape was Frank Irwin in 1954. The Designer of the Contempora pattern was Robert Allen, & it was introduced in 1955. Part of the "Poppytrail" Line; the Freeform Shape, California "Contempora" pattern is a glazed white earthenware with black, grey & pink colors. |
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Welcome to Great American Pottery Currently we are only accepting payments through PayPal. Our top priority is to provide you with a safe & secure shopping experience. Shipping & Sales Tax is included in listed item price.
Even if you do not purchase anything, we thank you for stopping by to look at classic California American pottery. Contact: gr8ampottery@gmail.com |
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Made in America,
Cherished for Generations |
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