The Figgjo Museum

Mum and I visited the Figgjo museum yesterday. The Figgjo factory is located a 30 minute drive from my home town Stavanger in a place by the same name, Figgjo. For some strange reason I haven't visited the museum and factory store before, I just haven't gotten around to it. Figgjo was founded in 1941 by the Figgjo river, and was called Figgjo Kraftselskap AS, (Figgjo power company). The first tunnel oven was set up in 1946, and is still in use. The company started producing fayence in 1947 and changed name to Figgjo Fajanse in 1949.

The fusion with their biggest competition, Stavangerflint, was finalized in 1968. Stavangerflint was finally closed down in 1979 and the company changed it's name to Figgjo AS.

The museum is in a corner of the factory store. It's not big, but has quite nice displays of the most popular patterns and designs both before and after the ones we all know and love. Please excuse the quality of the pictures, it's really bad. Photographing through glass is rarely a success, just thought I'd give you an idea....

 

A la carte (1960-65)

Granada (1970-75)

Daisy (1969-75)

Market (1966-80)

 

Anne Marie (1971-77)

Folklore (top left, 1970-75)

Elvira (1970-80)

 

Lotte (1962-85)

Arden (1970-75)

A private collection of coffee- and teapots, on display at the museum

The Figgjo factory is very much alive and kicking, but has moved on from the domestic market to become a major supplier for restaurants, hotels and cruise ships. I heard someone saying they're the world's largest supplier to cruise ships, I haven't had that piece of information confirmed, though. Today Figgjo’s mass produced ceramics lack the quirky originality and character, they're also mostly white, a neutral base that restaurants prefer, there's only a few exceptions. 

A lot of the pieces have interesting shapes for creative presentation of food and Figgjo is still known to use innovative designers. A lot of the stuff they make is too "restauranty" for my taste, but I did find this new take on the "tv-plate" interesting. You can see the original tv- plate below, that I inherited from my grandmother.

It was also such a thrill to see that the children's set "Mons" from 1975 is in production again in two colors, green and red. The green is the original color, red is new. This pattern has always reminded me of "Arden", of course they're both designed by the amazing Turi Gramstad Oliver.

 

Apart from the displayed pieces, the museum also has a lot of interesting facts and timelines. I photographed this poster of the stamps they've used through the times in chronological order for you guys to date any mystery pieces:-) If you download the image, it's actually readable....

 

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Great stuff at mum and dad's

I'm blogging from my mum and dad's in Stavanger where I'm spending the last week of my vacation. I'm using the Blogger app for the first time, and have finally found a way to change the font, it startes out looking very strange. I just thought I'd show you a couple of things from my childhood home that I really love and at the same time try it out:-)

Every time I'm visiting, I'm drooling over this rye (the Norwegian term for rya) that they made in the 60s. I hope some day it might find it's way to my home... You could buy sets with the pattern and the materials you needed. Sellgren is one of the well known brands that made these, but also Husfliden had some great ones, that's where this comes from. I absolutely love the modernist abstract tree pattern and the colors, cream, different shades of grey, black and teal. Mum told me yesterday that the background was supposed to have more pattern, but I love how it turned out.

My parents were married and set ut home in the late 60s and consequently have a lot of scandinavian 60s stuff. They have this great pendant, a brass “Nova,” designed by Jo Hammerborg for Fog & Mørup in 1963. It has some dark spots, and they have been looking for a replacement several times, but can't find a lamp that matches the colors and style of their living room and that gives the same beautiful light as this one. I think they're convinced there's no other lamp quite like it:-)

Among all the Figgjo and Stavangerflint they have (after all, this area is the home of those goodies), there are also some great pieces of studio pottery. I've always liked this Danish vase they got as a wedding gift in 1966. I don't know who the maker is, maybe some of you might know?

I've been thrifting too.... I found a box full of goodies yesterday on an op shop round with my mum and the guys. I also got some great planters that belonged to my grandmother. I'll show you when I get home and get them cleaned and photographed:-)

Pietrasanta and Carrara marble

After Cinque Terre, we drove south into Tuscany, where we stayed for a few days in the fin de siècle seaside resort of Viareggio. We stayed in a small hotel with only seven rooms, which constantly made me think of the pensione in E. M. Forsters "A room with s view", which was filmatized in 86 (directed by James Ivory). It's an extremely aesthetic movie taking place in Florence. If you haven't seen it, you must!

Viareggio has the Apuan mountains as a beautiful backdrop. This is where the famous Carrara marble is quarried. The highlight for me during our stay there was a daytrip to Pietrasanta. It's a wonderful city a 40 minute drive inland from Viareggio, and has been a Mecca for sculptors, with it's easy access to Carrara marble. It's situated at the foot of the Apuan mountains, very close to the quarries. Pietrasanta became important during the 15th century, mostly for its connection with the gorgeous stone. Michaelangelo himself, the greatest sculptor of all time, recognized the beauty of the Carrara white marble, not only did he use it for his own sculptures but he also worked in the quarries.

Today, there are sculpture workshops all over town. The town itself is an open air gallery, with lots of great sculptures scattered around the piazzas, and not only marble ones. The ones on the Piazza del Duomo, if I understood it right, are changed periodically. 

Il Pugliatore (the boxer) by Francesco Messina (Carrara bianco)

Alveoli by Rabarama, 2013 (Carrara bianco) Notice the hexagonal surface.

 

 

Pugno Autoritratto, Divition 111 by Bernard Bezzina, 2012 (bronze)

Fernando Botero's bronze sculpture in the background. The columbian artist is a resident of Pietrasanta.

The Piazza del Duomo

 

 

Ikaro caduto by Igor Mitoraj (bronze)

Pietrasanta is a jewelry box of beautiful medieval buildings, amongst others the Duomo di San Martino, built in the 14th century, with the brick bell tower from the same period, which has remained incomplete as it was intended to be clad in marble, like the duomo. Alas, the Duomo was closed when we were there, I would have loved to see the interior.

  

 

The raw material. The quarries are the white spots on the mountain sides, it's not snow!

The area containing the Carrara quarries is the worlds oldest industrial site still in operation, marble has been quarried continuously since roman times. Isn't that fascinating? Today, the around 300 marble quarries extract marble that is shipped to all corners of the world. But do you think I found the Carrara chopping board I've been lusting for? Oh no! There wasn't a single marble souvenir to be seen. A bit strange, don't you think?

I have a thing for indiustrial sites, places where the landscape has been shaped by man and processes. The phenomenon has a very obvious duality, maybe that's part of the fascination? I would have loved to visit the marble quarries, but they are not open to the public. I found some pretty amazing images by Edward Burtynsky, though, one of my favorite photographers, who shares my fascination. The images are from his web site. His work is very interesting. We did see, however, lots of sites along the autostrada with huge blocks of marble ready to be shipped across the globe (my pictures above, Burtynsky's below. I guess that goes without saying...).