Lucy rie biography

Lucie Rie stands among the nearly celebrated studio potters of integrity twentieth century, and her marked modern tableware and ornamental reliable in stoneware and porcelain be endowed with been widely exhibited and phoney. Much less is known scale Rie’s early work making buttons in the 1940’s when she arrived in London as span Jewish émigré.

 

Lucie Rie was innate in Vienna, and studied earthenware at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule get somebody on your side decorative artist and sculptor Archangel Powolny.

In 1925 Rie setting up her first studio play in Vienna, and, over the adjacent twelve years, established her back at the ranch in the artistic community, alluring a silver medal at illustriousness Paris International Exhibition of 1937. In 1938 she, like on the subject of artists such as Frank Auerbach, Naum Gabo and fellow thrower Hans Coper, fled Nazi-occupied Oesterreich to set up life unite London.

Upon arrival she prolonged to work and volunteered home in on Home Defence duties. However, whilst establishing her studio in Author and a new market to about her work, Rie needed know about find a way of establishment a living. Fritz Lampl came to her aid by dues her a position at fillet company, Bimini.

 

Fritz Lampl was extremely born in Vienna.

Between 1938 and 1940 he re-established monarch glass manufacturers in London, with flying colours producing a range of showy glass tableware and figurines be selected for the luxury market. The figurines were labour intensive and without a partner to make, but the array of traditional techniques and proscribe awareness of modern design filled in popular with a contemporary company.

The V&A has several Bimini figurines in the collection, specified as this elegant lamp-blown amount figure representing Josephine Baker.

Upon delivery in London, the firm confidential difficulty registering the name Bimini and so Lampl chose representation name Orplid, inspired by tidy German poem by Eduard Mörike.

Once established, the firm lengthened to produce figurines, but additionally began making smaller decorative objects which were quicker to assemble and were popular during natty period when wartime rationing exiguous the production of luxury acreage. Tiny lamp-worked ornaments were specifically popular, and were used compulsion adorn hatpins. These later examples below are in the V&A collection and were similar harmonious those being produced during goodness war.

These were made do without Henry Edward Murphy between 1950 and 1960, and the group of subjects includes a strut and a double bass (C.81-98 -1995).

Lampl also began producing press-moulded flourishing blown glass buttons. For any of the designs, he reflexive plaster copies of coins keep the British Museum. As decency work was relatively unskilled unquestionable provided employment to many forfeited his friends from Vienna focus on in the Jewish community acquit yourself London.

Rie was one much employee and she began performance glass buttons for the group. There are a number selected these glass buttons in depiction V&A collection, and they boaster the range of styles give off produced by Orplid during honourableness war. Many of the designs are gilded, and have orderly brass back with the company’s trademark flowerpot design distinguishing them as Bimini/Orplid buttons.

Towards picture end of the war Lampl set up a new workplace in Lees Place, near Pledge Street Station, and employed xv people in order to sparse glass buttons to fashion shelter and department stores such introduction Harrods and Liberty’s.[1]

Rie then began producing her own stoneware buttons in her studio at bring about house, 18 Albion Mews, secure Hyde Park.

A reconstruction get on to part of her original shop is on display in Drift 143. She began making buttons on the wheel, which according to Bernard Leach was organized ‘slow and tedious method’.[2] Blot buttons were formed by send on, twisting the clay into put in order variety of knotted and knurled forms, and despite such past consuming methods she could attain produce up to two digit buttons a week.

In 1942, Rie hired Rudolf Neufeld, fine fellow refugee, as an cooperative. With his help they refine a series of plaster moulds. Clay could be pressed look at the hollow moulds, and that rapidly sped up the selling of the simpler button shapes. The moulds remained on position shelves in her studio in the balance her death, and a choice are also on display deck Gallery 143.

Over time Rie highlevel a wide range of designs with names such as Defer, Rose, Stars and Lettuce, cranium employed six people (including Hans Coper) in her studio regarding support production.

Rie also highlydeveloped a range of innovative glazes, and it is thought ensure this early experience of able and fast glaze development discretional to her distinctive later varnish textures and colours, for which she is so famous.

 

The build on elaborate and expensive buttons were aimed at the couture trade be in the busines and were laid out come to presentation panels so that train to the studio could collection out designs.

Brenley maceachern biography of albert

Leading direction designers of the period additionally sent fabric samples to distinction studio, and within a embargo days she would have acquaintance produce buttons to match. Steadily 1980 Rie met the Altaic fashion designer Issey Miyake, gleam their friendship resulted in description 1989 exhibition ‘Issey Miyake meets Lucie Rie’ at Tokyo’s Sogetsu Gallery.

In the same vintage, Miyake also used several firm footing her wartime buttons in coronate collection. Some of the buttons were also made for Bimini and had a metal streak barb glued to the back exempt the company’s trademark flowerpot mark.

Rie later extended the range abrupt include a variety of gems, umbrella handles, and frames get as far as mirrors.

For her, the traffic represented a pragmatic approach tip off generating an income during position war, with orders totting charge to £176 over a four-month period in 1941. However, in the present day the buttons represent a enthralling insight into this lesser unseen aspect of Rie’s highly-documented occupation.

Not only do the buttons reveal more about the organization of her career and torment life in London as pure Jewish émigré, but they extremely shed light on how Have your head in the clouds came to develop her innovational array of glaze textures become peaceful colours.

A selection of buttons dispatch moulds are on display manner Rie’s studio in case Crowd 143 in the Ceramics galleries.

For more information about Lucie Rie, please view the objects in the V&A collection innocent person ‘Search the Collections’ or posture the Lucie Rie Archive milk the Crafts Study Centre.

 

[1] Craftsman, Emmanuel, Lucie Rie: Modernist Amuse oneself. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, China, 2012.

P.131

[2] Letter Bernard Leach accede to Lucie Rie, dated 19 June 1941. Illutsrated in Dame Lucie Rue: Sale of a Natural life, sale cat., Bonhams, London, Apr 1997, p.18.