When Samuel Weller launched his one-man, one-room pottery in 1872, he did everything himself. He dug the clay from the Fultenham, Ohio, soil, threw and fired his pieces, and carted them into nearby Zanesville, where he sold them door to door.
At the time, Weller’s repertoire ranged from flower pots to cuspidors, with the occasional piece of stoneware thrown in for good measure. Little could anyone have guessed that within 30 years, Weller Pottery would employ 500 people and be one of the biggest names in hand-painted art pottery in the United States.
While Weller’s roots may have been solo, his success owed a lot to the artisans he hired. The first of these was William Long of Lonhouda Pottery. Long was only at Weller a year ...
The next outsider to help Weller achieve his vision, and success, was Charles Babcock Upjohn, who was hired in 1895 as Weller’s art director—he remained with the firm for almost 10 years. Upjohn is credited with the popular Dickensware II line of 1900, whose surfaces featured figurative illustrations that were literally lifted from the pages of Charles Dickens novels.
Next Weller hired the English potter Frederick Hurton Rhead, who was also only at Weller a year (1902-1903) but left a major mark before moving on to Roseville and Arequipa (Rhead is probably best known as the designer of Fiesta). Among other things, Rhead is credited with Dickensware III, which was a kind of embossed version of Upjohn’s time-consuming-to-produce line. He also produced a number of hand-painted faience plates.
Jacques Sicard, a French ceramist, arrived shortly thereafter. He was brought to Weller to share the secrets of an iridescent majolica. Sicard eventually produced the Sicardo line for Weller, but unlike Long and Rhead, he refused to reveal his formula and methods, leaving the pottery in 1907 with the secrets still in his head.
Coincidental with Sicard’s tenure at Weller was that of Austrian Rudolph Lorber, who brought a menagerie of figurines to the firm. He also excelled at embossing techniques and was responsible for Weller’s Zona, Brighton, and Coppertone lines, as well as the Art Deco Hobart from the 1920s. One Zanesville native who worked closely with Lorber was Dorothy England Laughead, who collaborated with him on a series of large-scale ceramic animals that were used as decorative touches in gardens.
The Hobart line aside, Weller did not throw off its Art Nouveau roots. One of the pottery’s biggest sellers during the 1920s was its Hudson line of vases, whose floral paintings were decidedly nostalgic for the turn of the century, and are today considered among the finest examples of hand-painted production pottery in the early 20th century. Simultaneously, Weller produced several lines that used relief on their surfaces to dramatic effect, from the birds and daisies of the Knifewood line to the floral decorations of Marvo.
By the 1930s, the days of hand painting at Weller were numbered. Indeed, the company’s painted lines during the decade, from Bonito to Stellar, were extremely simplistic compared to what had come before. By 1935, Weller was only making molded pottery and in 1948, after struggling to stay afloat during World War II, the company closed for good.
Interviews & Articles
Stuart Lonsdale Explains the History and Design of Gouda Pottery

I think it all started with a small pottery vase my mother obtained from the art pottery shop where she worked in the early 1920s … [more]
Cowan Art Pottery of the Art Deco Era

I’m the curator here at the museum in Rocky River, a suburb west of Cleveland. I look at Cowan pottery from a historian’s angle be… [more]
Bowes Curator Howard Coutts on Meissen, Staffordshire, and Sèvres

I’m the curator of the ceramics bit of the Bowes Museum. It’s a big museum with 30 galleries of which three or four are devoted to… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Gouda Design

Stuart Lonsdale and Kim Lindley's excellent tribute to and reference on Gouda Dutch Art Pottery and Delftware. The … [read review or visit site]
Cowan Pottery Museum Associates

Dedicated to raising awareness of the ceramic art work of R. Guy Cowan and his Cowan Pottery Studio in northeastern… [read review or visit site]
The Pottery Studio

This 7,000-plus page site lives up to its self-billing as a 'knowledge base' with examples of work from all major a… [read review or visit site]
Clubs & Associations
Discussion Forums
Other Great Reference Sites
Top eBay Auctions
Recent News: Weller Art Pottery
Source: Google News
Nashville Glass Show To Feature Display Of Fostoria Crown Collection
The Chattanoogan, June 17thMany of the dealers will also offer American-made pottery from companies that are no longer in business. These companies include McCoy, Shawnee, Roseville, Watt and Weller. The featured display pattern for this year's show will be the Crown Collection ...Read more
Frager's Hardware Opens Temporary Eastern Market Location After Devastating ...
Huffington Post, June 10thAccording to the Frager's website, the temporary site will be open seven days a week selling "survivor" plants, as well as pottery and garden supplies, saved from the fire. Frager's owner John Weintraub said the he was been "overwhelmed" by the support...Read more
ANTIQUES: Time can distort meaning of some items
AberdeenNews.com, June 9thRoseville Pottery was organized in Roseville, Ohio, in 1890 and opened a plant in nearby Zanesville in 1898. Roseville made pottery until 1954. Weller Pottery started out in Fultonham, Ohio, moved to Zanesville in 1882 and closed in 1948. Hester...Read more
Lashings of stars descend on Rye
Hastings and St. Leonards Observer, May 30thcelebrating cricket and that was royally done. The man of the match award which had been given by Rye Pottery, a figurine of the great fast bowler William Lillywhite, was presented to Weller. See tomorrow's Rye Observer for a full report and more...Read more
MILPITAS CALENDAR for the week of May 31, 2013
Milpitas Post, May 29thÊ Breakfasts run from 8-9:30 a.m. in Jones Hall of the church, located at 355 Dixon Road (across from Weller School playground).ÊThe Milpitas Locally, Howard's work is displayed at the Cheryl Watts Pottery and Gallery in Monterey. The public is...Read more
Theater, Dance and Visual Arts Listings for May 23
Daily Herald, May 22nd8 p.m. May 27, Weller Book Works, 607 Trolley Square, Salt Lake City. $5. wow.poetryslam.com. "STEP BACK IN TIME" -- A ..... RED KILN POTTERY STUDIO & GALLERY -- 393 E. 1700 South, Salt Lake City. Hours: Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat. (801) 484-4016...Read more
MILPITAS CALENDAR for the week of May 24, 2013
Milpitas Post, May 22ndÊ Breakfasts run from 8-9:30 a.m. in Jones Hall of the church, located at 355 Dixon Road (across from Weller School playground).ÊThe Milpitas Locally, Howard's work is displayed at the Cheryl Watts Pottery and Gallery in Monterey. The public is...Read more
Vintage Guru Reveals Her Glamour Secrets
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
The Beautiful Chaos of Improvisational Quilts
Our Dad, the Water Witch of Wyoming
This 1959 Goggomobil Is Insanely Cute and Gets 55 MPG. Why Can’t Detroit Do That?
California Cool: How the Wetsuit Became the Surfer's Second Skin
The Unfiltered History of Rolling Papers, Plus Tommy Chong's Big Fat Jamaican Vacation
World's Smallest Museum Finds the Wonder in Everyday Objects
Fightin’ Femmes: Unmasking Female Superheroes with Author Mike Madrid

by 
by 
by 