OK, so I have a little problem: I’m a bit obsessed with ceramics. Especially ones with unusual glazes and arresting profiles. I can’t get enough, yet I already have too many to fit in my petite home. But, really, that’s the beauty of pottery. You can always find more room for it! If you run out of tabletops, place a few on a bookcase. If you run out of shelf space, sit them in your windowsills. No more ledge space? Get an artful planter for the floor. And on and on it goes. To me, a piece of pottery is like sculpture–but with more use value.
So you can only imagine my excitement at discovering Teco. Designed by acolytes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School, these strikingly modernist vases were originally produced between 1899 and 1920 by the American Terra Cotta & Ceramics Company (i.e. TeCo). Now, the Prairie Arts Studio is putting a select few back into production: Seven shapes, in six colors, are all slip-cast formed and then hand-glazed. The company, run by husband-wife team Bryan and Lisa Kelly plus Eric OâżżMalley, strives to make selected Frank Lloyd Wright decorative accessories.
Teco Art Pottery Collection, through Prairie Arts. –Jen Renzi
