Online Seconds Sale - UPDATE

The online seconds sale is now live!

Again, we apologize for the delay and we thank you very much for your patience.

To shop online for seconds, please visit the Holiday Sale page and read all of the information on the sale before proceeding on to the store.



Thanks again to everyone who visited us in person for the Holiday Sale and to all of those who have already shopped and are now shopping the online sale.

All of this excitement is not just the celebration of the end of 2008. Please continue to visit us here at the Bauer Pottery Company blog for more exciting news in 2009, not the least of which will be the launch of the new line of Russel Wright American Modern pottery.

Online Sale Delayed

Just to let you know, due to technical difficulties, we have had to delay the launch of the online seconds sale. We hope to have it up and running by 5pm PST today, Monday, December 22.

An email went out to everyone on the email list advising them of this delay, but we know that not everyone is subscribed to the list, so we wanted to post something here as well.

If you believe that you are subscribed to our email list and you did not receive this notice, please check your spam folders and be sure that you have "lists@bauerpottery.com" on your whitelist.

We thank you in advance for your patience and rest assured that the sale will open shortly.

The Holiday Sale - 2008

Moments before the doors opened for day 1 of the sale

Just a quick reminder that this weekend, we will be hosting weekend two of our annual Holiday Sale.

Come on down to our Atwater Village warehouse, which has been redesigned since last year into the new Bauer Pottery Showroom.

As always we have great deals on seconds and since we have such a large selection, we are not stocking any firsts this year.

If you need more information about the sale, please visit our Holiday Sale page.

Now, I need to get back to work so we'll be ready for all of you tomorrow!


Moments after the doors opened

New American Modern

If you’re reading this, you probably got here by way of the Bauer Pottery home page. If that’s the case, you may have already seen the very exciting announcement that Bauer Pottery has partnered with Russel Wright Studios and Annie Wright, Russel’s daughter, to reproduce a collection of pottery based on Russel’s American Modern line.

The only bad news here is that all you fans of Bauer Pottery and Russel Wright won’t be able to get any pieces in your hot little hands until Spring of 2009. The announcement is a lot like one of those movie trailers you saw in the theatre last June that ends with “Opens Christmas Day” or worse “Coming Summer 2009.”

Well to fill the time between next Spring and now, we’ll be posting up some stories and images of the line as it’s being developed. You’ll get an early look at the designs and colors won’t be in stores for another four months.

If this is the first you’re hearing about the new Russel Wright collaboration with Bauer, what we can say so far is that the line will consist of thirteen pieces in four classic colors: Chartreuse, coral, seafoam and granite. We’ll be working hard to match the new glazes to that of the vintage line and you’ll get to see some of that process here.

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To kick off this journey, let’s take a look at some of the earliest steps in the process of creating reproductions from vintage pieces. The first pictures show both original pieces and early steps in the models of the sugar bowl and creamer.


Vintage Russel Wright American Modern Creamer on the left and the model for the reproduction emerging from the block of plaster on the right.


Vintage Russel Wright American Modern Sugar Bowl sans lid and beginnings of a model of same.


Our model maker uses the original pieces as a guide as he crafts the new models from a block of plaster.

In the following pictures are models for the pitcher and the lid to the sugar bowl. The new models are made about 8-10% larger than the size we want them to turn out, in order to accommodate for shrinkage in the drying and firing phases.


Model for a new American Modern Pitcher and a vintage American Modern Pitcher. It's a little hard to see, but take note that the model is solid, not hollow like a finished piece. The pieces that will be slip cast, do not need to be hollow, but more on that when we get to casting pieces.


A vintage Creamer, next to the model for a new Sugar Bowl lid, next to a vintage Sugar Bowl lid


The finished models are then used to make the master mold from which the first samples are made. Any adjustments to the model can be made at that time before making the block and case. We'll get you some pictures of this part of the process and post them up next time.

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Coming up: Slip Casting, Pressing, Greenware, Bisque Firing, Glazing and more!

Oil Jar Fountain

Patrick, a local customer here in Southern California, sent us these pictures of recently completed fountain project, featuring a 22 inch Oil Jar in Bauer Orange.



We've sold quite a few Oil Jars that we've heard were destined to become fountains, but we rarely get to see the finished results.



If you have an image that you'd like to share with us, please feel free to send it along and perhaps we'll feature it here on the Bauer Blog!


A vintage Swirl Pot shares the spotlight with the Oil Jar fountain.

Sunset Magazine - November, 2008

If you squint and turn your head just so, you'll see Bauer Pottery show up in the pages of Sunset Magazine once again!




Though small in size, the endorsement as one of editor-in-chief Katie Tamony's picks for November is quite an honor. Look for us on the bottom right hand corner of page 10.







And here's another gorgeous image of the Bauer Orange Indian Bowl from that same shoot. Click the image for a larger view.










Photos of Bauer Pottery by Ebbe Row Yovino-Smith for Sunset

Sunset Magazine - September, 2008

Someone over at Sunset magazine must love us. This is the third time this year that Bauer has made an appearance in the magazine. This time we made the cover with our newest piece, the Garden Orb.

While not reproduction of any piece from the vintage Bauer line, the Garden Orbs are the latest addition to the Bauer 2000 line and we think that they fit in nicely with the feel and style of all of our classic Bauer designs.

Check out the current issue of Sunset as well as our site for more on the new Garden Orbs.

New Prices & a New Item

A new edition of the Bauer newsletter has been posted with some pricing changes, both up and down, and a link to a new item.

Check out the newsletter here.

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Also, if you have a subscription to Sunset magazine or happen to be around a news stand this weekend, you can see that new item mentioned above on the cover!

Bauer Pottery at the San Francisco Gift Show

If you are in the trade and will be at the San Francisco International Gift Show this weekend, stop by and say "hello" to Janek.

We'll be in the North Hall of the Moscone Center in the Accent on Design section in booth #5813.

See you in the city by the bay!

Hallmark Magazine, Things We Make Blog - July 3, 2008

Wow... looks like the Water Carafe and Tumblers are popular!

Amy Palanjian, who writes the "Things We Make" blog at the Hallmark Magazine site has also featured the two pieces in today's post.

There's a nice image of the Carafe and Tumblers in bright colors along with a recent shot of the company's owner, Janek Boniecki. Though that picture was shot on the occasion of the Highland Citrus Festival, we'd like to point out that Janek comes into the factory dressed like that every day.

Cookie Magazine Blog - June 24, 2008

The folks over at Cookie Magazine's blog have been kind enough to include us as "something wonderful" in their "Daily Finds" post.

They feature a Water Carafe in Federal Blue and a Water Tumbler in Dove Grey.

These are not available yet through the Bauer Pottery web store, but you can order them if you give a call on the toll free number: (888) 213-0800



Photo by Cookie Magazine

Gourmet Magazine - July, 2008

Photo by Romulo Yanes for Gourmet


A Berry Bowl and Soup Plate show up in July's issue of Gourmet magazine.

Click here for a shot of the pieces on the Gourmet web site in their "Get the Look" section.

Rare Vintage Piece Brings High Price on eBay

Detail from eBay page (click image for full-size view)

In all the excitement over the article in the Los Angeles Times (see previous post), we haven't gotten around to mentioning a big sale that went down at the end of last week.

A vintage Bauer Cigarette Holder in Jade Green sold for $2,225.00 on eBay. We here at the Bauer Pottery Company saw the auction earlier in the week and tossed in our two cents (or possibly a little more) to see if we could snag this very rare piece that we'd not seen before.

By the time the auction had ended, the price had shot way past our maximum bid. The winners of the auction are Dan & Donna Edwards over at Spring Creek Pottery, who have been a good customers, selling the Bauer 2000 line for many years now.

Contacted about their new acquisition, they sounded like proud new parents:

Dan & Donna Edwards, owners of Spring Creek Pottery and avid vintage Bauer pottery collectors, are very excited with their newest acquisition: a Jade Green 1930’s Cigarette jar. It will be proudly displayed next to a very rare Bauer single bee Honey Jar and #9 white mixing bowl!

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It's always interesting to see something new, or at least new to us, pop up like this. It did get us thinking about the utility of this piece. Would a smoker care if there was lead in the glaze of his or her cigarette holder?


Full eBay item page (click image for full-size view)

Bauer Pottery in the Los Angeles Times

If you're in the Southern California Area, take a look at today's Los Angeles Times Business section for a nice profile on the Bauer Pottery Company of Los Angeles.

If you're outside the area, click here for an online version of the article.


photo by Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times

Cat Bowl

Customer Rebecca points out that we may be making more than one kind of cat bowl.


Matisse relaxing in a Pasta Bowl.

Sunset Magazine - June 2008

Keen-eyed Bauer fans may have already seen a little flash of color on the cover of the June 2008 Sunset magazine in the form of a 6" Flower Pot in Chartreuse. The same image makes an appearance on page 56 of the magazine.



















For those of you not adept at Where's Waldo or spotting the rabbit head, we've blown up the small section of the image where the Flower Pot appears.






















It took slightly less than 70 years for Bauer to make a return appearance to the cover of Sunset. Take a look at this piece of history from the August 1939 issue of Sunset magazine.

Vintage Bauer - Bean Pot #2

Mary wrote us inquiring about this piece, which she picked up at a garage sale.

Looking through a couple books, I found images of similar pieces, though not the exact same one.

Jeffrey B. Snyder's Beautiful Bauer: A Pictorial Study with Prices has images of similar pieces (p.44), but they either have two handles or no handles at all. Both styles are from the Plainware line, from the early 1930s. The double-handled piece was available in 4.5", 5.5" and 6" sizes. The version with no handles is pictured in the 4.5" size.

Jack Chipman's Collector's Encyclopedia of Bauer Pottery has an image of the double-handled piece (p.38) that is described as a 2-quart Bean Pot, which looks to be about 5.5" to 6" tall. Chipman notes that though the Plainware line pre-dated the Ringware line, the Ringware was so popular that by 1941 only a few Plainware pieces were still in production. Among them was the Bean Pot.

All that said, I still don't have a reference for a single-handled Bean Pot. Do any of you collectors out there have anything to add about this piece? If so, please click on the "Comments" link below and share it with us all.

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At some point in the near future, we will be adding a separate discussion page, but until then, feel free to email us or add comments with your queries.

Welcome!

It’s 2008, so every company from a one-man start-up to multi-national corporation has a blog, so why not a pottery company with over 100 years of history?

With this first real post, we’re happy to introduce you to the newest aspect of the Bauer Pottery Company of Los Angeles. Bauer Pottery has had a presence on the web for several years at BauerPottery.com, though that is primarily a retail and general information site.

These pages will be more about what we do at Bauer on a day to day basis: What’s going into and coming out of the kilns; what new pieces are being created; that sort of thing.

It will also be a place for you as a Bauer fan and collector to be able to interact more with us and with one another. Down the line we’d like to post information about what you are collecting, where you find your pottery, both new and vintage, and how you use and/or display it all.

While it’s nice to read about Bauer Pottery, we feel that it’s even more fun to see, so we’ll be posting lots of images here, drawing from both our Flickr page and from your submissions. For the time being, hold onto to all your stories and images, but we’ll be asking for them soon, so have them ready.

What’s New at Bauer

Many of you may know the history of the original J.A. Bauer Pottery Company, which can be traced back to the late 1800s in Paducah, KY. The original company moved to Los Angeles in the early 1900s, created many popular and well-imitated lines of pottery and ultimately went out of business in 1962. (Yes, this does give short shrift to the history of Bauer, but I’m trying to get us all to a point about what’s new!)

The story of the new Bauer starts in 1998 when collector Janek Boniecki revitalized the trademark and began reproducing popular pieces from the ringware line of the 1920s and 30s. You can get a brief overview of this story in a profile on Janek published in the November 2002 issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

Since that time, Janek has been contracting to third-party manufactures to have the pottery made. As of October of last year, Janek purchased the factory of California Design Works, the company that had been making the bulk of the pottery since 2002.

With full control of the production process, we hope to increase the quality, variety and availability of Bauer to all of you. If we’ve heard one complaint over the years, it’s been about the availability of a particular piece or a particular color. Hopefully, that will be a thing of the past.

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Well, we could go on and on about what’s new and what’s coming up, but if we told you everything now, you wouldn’t come back for more. Check back, we hope to post relatively frequently. If you have any suggestions or questions, please drop us a line at blog @ bauerpottery.com.