Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish & German pottery

This post is gonna be a tour of the Nordic countries (minus Sweden, sorry- no Swedish finds this time!), as well as a visit to Germany. This weekend was amazing, thrifting wise, I found some great stuff, at ridiculously low prizes in three different charity stores. You gotta love those, so much more fun than ebay, as you get the thrill of the treasure hunt as a bonus:-) Nothing beats searching through a pile of junk,and then suddenly hit the jackpot. That's what it felt like this Saturday. I really need to cool it....

This is a beautiful piece of Danish studio pottery which was mine for only 30 NOK, around 5 USD, I really had to rub my eyes! The edge looks blue in the second image, it's not. The first one represents the colors best, the red is a rich orangy, and the brown is really dark, almost black. The initials KK is still a mystery to me, so I'm counting on you Danes out there:-) The only Danish pottery maker I can find with these initials is Knud Kyhn (1880- 1969). When I search the web for works by Kyhn, however, I find mainly animal sculptures, so it might not be the "KK" I'm looking for. I'm also guessing there must be a KK that was born a little later.

Speaking of Danish, I've been admiring the Søholm spice jars for ages but have never found any in the thrifts over here. But suddenly there they were in all their glory- a set of six jars at 10 NOK a piece- that's less than 2 USD!! I didn't notice before I washed them that some have text in Danish and some in Swedish. I guess they were customized for export.

 

On the same table as the beautiful Danish KK studio pottery, I spotted a piece of pottery that I've been really hoping to find one day. It's a piece of Icelandic Glit lava pottery. I don't know a great deal about it, but I know the ceramic studio was founded by Ragnar Kjartansson in 1958 and that they're known for using lava rocks (hraun) in the glaze. I don't think that's the case with this piece, unless the lava is actually blended into the clay. I find the roughness of icelandic pottery really beautiful, it's a quality that really reflects the gorgeous landscape it comes from. The symbol in the middle looks ancient and mythical, also in true Icelandic spirit. I'm  really excited to have found this piece!

Over to another country known for it's beautiful rustic designs- Finland! I know there's a looot of Arabia Ruska around, but I still love finding new pieces. If someone told me years ago that I would be collecting Ruska, I wouldn't have believed it. Growing up, I thought it was really ugly. But it's a design that has grown on me and taken me by surprise. It's a bit challenging and has certainly not been love at first sight, but when I fell, I fell hard. I love how it's all about that beautiful rustic glaze, that has all the browns you can imagine, from rich chocolate to almost black. I found this tea set for six.

A new handsome German, before I leave the rustic lava theme! This Scheurich is in neutral tones and a very cheerful orangy red that will brighten up things a bit while we're waiting for the spring to prove that it's here for sure:-)

Back to Scandinavia again, to Norway, more precicely to the southwestern part where I grew up. Some may have noticed that I'm pretty patriotic about our great pride and joy, Stavangerflint and Figgjo:-) Have you ever seen this beautiful Stavangerflint pattern? I thought I'd seen them all, but obviously not! I'm sorry, the photo was taken in the shop, it's not a good one. The shapes are the same as the "Nordkapp", but the pattern and colors are new to me. The teapot is gorgeous. I've e- mailed a photo to someone who might know what the pattern is called, I'll be sure to inform you if I find out! As beautiful as the set were, I actually left it behind. I have to narrow it down, I can't get everything. Sometimes I wish I had a shop... Well, I left the set hoping someone will be happy to find it complete. Later that same day, I actually found a serving plate in that same pattern in another shop, and guess what? I took it home:-)

Finally, two small dishes that I've previously only seen on the web. They're made by Stavangerflint for the Viking Hotel in Oslo in the 60s. They' re rather small, around 10 cm across, they might be ashtrays or butterdishes, I'm not sure. I do like the rather bold black on white pattern, it's quite striking. I wonder if there was a wide range of products in this series, does anyone know?