Getting to Know Raymond Loewy
As the last century came to an end, savvy design conscious individuals started
to reflect on twentieth century achievement in decorative art. Consequently, a
renewed appreciation for the progressive modern design of the 1930s through the
1960s has skyrocketed. A decade ago, only a handful of collectors were scooping
up important examples of mass produced designer utilitarian tablewares, in china,
crystal and silver from the period for their homes.
Today, it is almost impossible to find an interiors publication that
has not acknowledged the design movers and shakers from the "mid-century".
Names like Eva Zeisel, Jens Quistgaard, Susie Cooper, Keith Murray, and
Russel Wright are
familiar to a much larger audience than even a few years ago, which makes
finding their designs more difficult and more expensive to collect.
One of the under appreciated designers thus far, Raymond Loewy, still represents
a great value for collectors. His wonderfully modern, mass-produced porcelain
designs of the 1940s for the German manufacturer, Rosenthal, seem to have been
bypassed by the throng of new collectors of modern design objects for the table.
After WW II, Rosenthal’s fairly traditional line of fine porcelain based on
pre-war designs was stagnant, and Loewy was recruited to help update their image
in the late 1940s. Loewy created a number of different modern shapes to be
executed in Rosenthal porcelain. The shapes, like Shape 2000, are still modern
by today’s standards and certainly would have been avant-garde at the time.
Rosenthal manufactured and distributed the designs in both plain white, and
decorated porcelain patterns.
Loewy has an incredibly diverse background in industrial design that includes
a who’s who of companies and agencies for whom he worked. Coca-Cola, NASA, Coldspot,
Studebaker, and Rosenthal are only a few clients for whom he created modern design
concepts and products.
Unlike much of the collectible dinnerware from the period by other designers,
the Loewy designs for Rosenthal are fine china. The ceramic body is a high fired
(thin and durable), fine German porcelain with a beautiful high luster, and light
weight.
With the success of the Loewy patterns, Rosenthal firmly established itself as
one of the few progressive china manufacturers in the area of design. Loewy’s
original Shape 2000 is what really began the legacy of modern design in porcelain
at Rosenthal fifty years ago.
Rosenthal has since attracted other modern designers such as Tapio Wirkkala,
Bjorn Wiinblad, Piero Fornasetti, Timo Sarpaneva and Gianni Versace to create
patterns for the company.
Rosenthal "Palladiana" designed by Piero Fornasetti,
Rosenthal "Suomi White" designed by Timo Sarpaneva,
Rosenthal "Idyll" designed by Bjorn Wiinblad (on Loewy's Shape 2000 blank) and
Rosenthal giftware vase designed by Tapio Wirkkala
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Modern design museum exhibitions, vintage modern shops and shows, modern design
magazines, and the reintroduction of modern designs by the original manufacturers
all attest to the continuing appreciation in interest and price for mid century
designer objects.
Loewy’s important designs in high quality porcelain are still undervalued! Look
for place pieces in these fine china patterns for only $15.00 to $35.00 each,
and serving pieces from $25.00 to $125.00 each.
Loewy Patterns for Rosenthal:
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