Esoteric Survey

A reunion was held last weekend to bring together everyone who was involved in the Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape book and AMOCA exhibition . It was held at the home of Architectural Pottery co-founders Rita and Max Lawrence. Damon Lawrence and his wife now call it home and were amazing hosts. When Rita and Max Lawrence began their involvement with Architectural Pottery, they lived in a Gregory Ain house in the Mar Vista tract. They previously lived in the Ain Altadena tract and the Dunsmuir Flats apartments, where Damon was born. As Jeffrey states in the AP book, it was Ain who introduced the Lawrences to modernism.  The Lawrences were working with Ain to design a new home for the family in Bel Air, but were having issues with the City. In 1953 they moved into a Spanish Revival house in Bel Air, where the reunion was held. It was designed by Carleton Winslow Sr. He was part of  Bertram Goodhue's firm that designed the Los Angeles Central Library. On a...

Lamp by Kurt Versen and a planter by George Finch (Kay's boy). George designed less decorative things for his mother's company. George was also a painter and created a number of dog portraits. Kay was into champion dog breeding, which led to her line of ceramic dogs (some modeled after American Kennel Club champions). When she sold her ceramics company she focused on dog breeding and shows. Richard Fisher Bell VKG MKG Jacob Jensen Viking in the OG Box

Van Keppel Green library table Grete Prytz Kittelsen, Gross Wood and Raul Coronel Richard Thompson for Glenn of California and a record stand

  Inside the Design Center Ilse and Lloyd Ruocco’s Design Center, located in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, was a foundation for the modern design community of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Inside the Design Center brings to life a vignette of mid-twentieth century interior, lighting, and furniture design, featuring pieces by significant California designers, manufacturers, and craftspeople as selected by Ilse Ruocco for her 1950 showroom. This exhibition offers an immersive, revelatory window into San Diego’s culture of modernism through the lens of architecture, design, interior decorating, home goods retailing, landscape architecture, graphic design, and photography. Historic images of the Design Center set the backdrop for over 30 original pieces of modernist furnishings. Works by designers such as Ray Eames, Charles Eames, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Dorothy Schindele, Milo Baughman, and Edith Heath of Heath Ceramics are included.  Guest Co-Curators: Dave Hampton wi...