The Connoisseur of Malvern studio, which was launched in England in the early 1980s, has a fascinating history. The quality of their porcelain sculptures is easily the equivalent of anything that came out of Royal Worcester – no surprise there, considering that the founders of the studio were alumni of that revered studio! Connoisseur operated…
Although birds formed the majority of sculptures that Granget designed for the Hutschenreuther studio (see Part 1), animal and human sculptures were not entirely neglected. This second of my two-part Granget overview will also look at some items he designed for mass market manufacturers. Animals and Fish for Hutschenreuther As with his birds, the Granget-for-Hutschenreuther…
Although most of my Lost Porcelain Studios series focuses on actual studio operations, there were a few porcelain artists who never had their own independent studio but instead spent their career as a marquee designer for one or more major porcelain companies. Gunther Granget was one of those. Gunther Granget was born in 1932 in…
This final instalment of my overview of the Boehm of Malvern studio in England covers three genres (human figures, decorative eggs, and holiday ornaments) plus a commemorative home décor item. Human Figures The “people pieces” from the 1980s studio were — other than any single-item special commissions that may have been done, such as the…
One trend that is noticeable when reviewing the circa-1980s Boehm of Malvern designs is a growing tendency to depict human figures, but the classic Boehm staples of birds and flowers continued to dominate their production. Another post-1980 tendency is to see a mixture of production venues (Malvern vs. Trenton) within the same design. During the…
The Boehm porcelain studio’s expansion into the UK widened even further during the 1980s. They already had a porcelain studio in Malvern, England, but Helen Boehm wanted to take advantage of a new trend: figurines that combined porcelain with bronze elements. In 1982 she learned of a jewelry foundry in Wales named Ammonite Art Ltd…
As a result of the retail success of their first-decade series of collector plates, the Boehm of Malvern studio went into the genre in a much bigger way during the 1980s. The decision to do this, of course, originated with Helen Boehm who never let a marketing opportunity pass her by. The so-called “collectibles market”…
As related in my first Boehm of Malvern post, the on-site management of Boehm’s British studio changed with the departure of Diane and Terry Lewis in 1979. This second half of my Malvern retrospective covers that studio’s remaining operational years. It appears that the final year of any significant production was 1992. By that time…
The Chatsworth Lady 