Russel Wright’s American Modern dinnerware, produced by Steubenville Pottery Company of Ohio, was introduced in 1939 and had sold some 250 million pieces by the end of the 1950s. The original colors were Seafoam Blue, Coral, Chartreuse,Grey, White, and Bean Brown. A second set of colors included Cedar Green, Cantaloupe, Glacier Blue, and Black Chutney. Today the line is produced by Bauer Pottery of Los Angeles, for whom Wright designed after World War II.
American Modern pieces were unadorned by decorations, which made them modern, and formed from earthenware, which made them affordable. But earthenware is relatively fragile compared to stoneware and porcelain, so many vintage pieces of American Modern on the market today are marred by chips. That’s probably why Wright’s next line, Casual, was manufactured of a high-fired china by Iroquois of New York. Colors for this more durable dinnerware ran from Sugar White and Lemon Yellow to Ripe Apricot and Pink Sherbet. More difficult to find are pieces Wright designed for Paden City Pottery Company and the Sterling China Company, which produced restaurant ware.
Interviews & Articles
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”)
The Bowes Museum: Ceramics

This gallery showcases 2,130 of the 5,000 items in the museum's ceramics collection dating from 1500-1900. Include… [read review or visit site]
Ceramics at The V&A

A great reference on ceramics from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Learn about different ceramics techniques and st… [read review or visit site]
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
If These Shirts Could Talk: The Tantalizing Tales Behind Used Clothes
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
In the Hot Seat: Is Your Antique Windsor a Fake?
Bizarro Beauty Products, from 1889 to Now
Love at First Kite: How Pizza and Pente Led to One Oklahoman's High-Flying Obsession
Pin-Up Queens: Three Female Artists Who Shaped the American Dream Girl
Say Ahhh: An Oral Surgeon's Quest to Reimagine the Garage-Band Guitar
Tokens for Sweethearts, in Times of War
American Picker Dream, Part I: Mike Wolfe On His Love Affair With Bikes

by 