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34-797: In March 2020, the storied Homer Laughlin China Company sold its food services divisions and the Homer Laughlin name to Steelite International , a British-based international tableware manufacturer. The company retained its retail division, including the prominent Fiesta line as well as the manufacturing and marketing operations in Newell, West Virginia — rebranding the company as the Fiesta Tableware Company. The Fiesta Tableware Company originated as Laughlin Pottery,

68-494: A British-based, international tableware manufacturer. HLCC retained its retail division, including the prominent Fiestaware line along with the manufacturing operations and headquarters — rebranding as The Fiesta Tableware Company . For some time, the food services division had been unprofitable and was unable to compete with inexpensive imported tableware. Because HLCC had been using the Homer Laughlin brand name in its foodservice business, and they were selling that division,

102-552: A center picture of wheat bending in the wind, with a trim on the edge in 22k gold. Modern Star, a short dinnerware china set made by the Homer Laughlin China Company in association with the Taylor, Smith and Taylor Pottery Company and Quaker Oats Company. Modern Star is not a shape but a short dinnerware set with an “atomic style” starburst pattern prominent on each piece of the dinnerware. The dinnerware line

136-638: A designer, sculptor, and businesswoman, after a short yet carefree summer together in Woodstock, New York , where they were involved in the New York artist's Maverick Festival and artist colony . Mary studied sculpture under Alexander Archipenko . Together Mary and Russel went on to form Wright Accessories, a home accessories design business, and began creating small objects for the home consisting of cast metal animals and informal serving accessories of spun aluminum and other materials. The couple also wrote

170-550: A range of functions. This includes formal dinners to dinnerware for use by US troops at base camps and in the field. A number of these designs are exclusive to the US government. Steelite International Steelite International is a British ceramics manufacturer based in Middleport , Staffordshire , England. They specialise in alumina-strengthened vitreous tableware for the hospitality industry . The company had

204-431: A turnover of £117 million in 2016. In 2017, it supplied tableware to more than 140 countries, and employed more than 1,000 people. Production output was reported to be around 550,000 pieces per week. Steelite International plc was established in 1983, when David Edward Dunn Johnson bought the hotelware division of Royal Doulton . The company operates from Dale Hall Works and the adjacent Albany Works. Dale Hall Works

238-584: A two-kiln pottery on the banks of the Ohio River in East Liverpool, Ohio — started in 1871 by brothers Shakespeare and Homer Laughlin . Shakespeare left the company in 1879. In 1889 William Edwin Wells joined Laughlin, and seven years later they incorporated. Laughlin sold his interest to Wells shortly thereafter. The company was awarded a prize at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, for

272-479: Is constructed of wood, stone, and glass, and has been considered "one of the most idiosyncratic homes in the country". Wright designed the site, creating eleven woodland walking trails. Development of the site included in-filling a quarry and rerouting a stream. The house includes furniture that he designed or modified, as well as the Russel and Mary Wright Design Gallery where his pottery and functional objects for

306-651: The 1950s was introduced in 1955, and was designed by a student of Russel Wright . Wright's own dinnerware lines were made by Homer Laughlin rival, Steubenville Pottery in nearby Steubenville, Ohio . Epicure today is a sought after collectible, but it was not well received when introduced and was dropped only one year after its debut. Golden Wheat Line, Homer-Laughlin Company produced the Golden Wheat line between 1949 and 1966. These pieces were added to Duz Detergent boxes as an enticement to buyers. These dishes feature

340-431: The belief that the dining table was the center of the home. Working outward from there, he designed tableware to larger furniture, architecture to landscaping, all fostering an easy, informal lifestyle. It was through his popular and widely distributed housewares and furnishings that he impacted the way many Americans lived and organized their homes in the mid-20th century. In 1927 Wright married Mary Small Einstein ,

374-645: The best white-ware. The firm experienced rapid growth and opened a new 30-kiln plant in Newell, West Virginia , in 1903 — the company’s present manufacturing and headquarters location. By the late 1920s all production was centered at the West Virginia factory and the Ohio site was abandoned. The company hired Albert V. Bleininger in 1920, a scientist, author, and educator, who oversaw the conversion of HLCC from bottle kilns to more efficient tunnel kilns. In 1927,

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408-608: The best-selling Guide to Easier Living in 1950, which described how to reduce housework and increase leisure time through efficient design and household management. Russel Wright Studios continues to work with corporate and public clients in the licensing and manufacturing of his designs and products. Wright is best known for his colorful American Modern design, the most widely sold American ceramic dinnerware in history, manufactured between 1939 and 1959 by Steubenville Pottery in Steubenville, Ohio . Another iconic design

442-568: The company hired English ceramist Frederick Hurten Rhead, who focused on the design of the company's products and experimented with shapes and glazes. In 1935, this work culminated in his designs for the Fiesta line. The company reached its production peak in 1948, manufacturing 10,129,449 items. In 2010, the company — then known as the Homer Laughlin China Company (HLCC), purchased The Hall China Company in East Liverpool, and under

476-442: The customer wanted to purchase. Customers could purchase small sets or a complete set of dinnerware for up to 6 people. Modern Star was one of the last dinnerware lines the Homer Laughlin China Company manufactured in partnership with Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery Company. The Modern Star Line was discontinued in 1958 and is highly collectible. HLC maintains contracts with the federal government to supply china and dinnerware for

510-680: The early 1930s through the 1950s. His most popular line of essentially Art Deco American Modern "blonde" wooden furniture was produced by the Conant-Ball company of Gardner, Massachusetts between 1935 and 1939, and bore the branded mark "American Modern Built by Conant-Ball Co. Designed by Russel Wright". Wright also worked with the Old Hickory Furniture Company in Martinsville, Indiana on unique rustic furniture with Wright's modern stylings. The collection

544-629: The entirety of his professional artistic career in New York, employing such early instrumental modern design practitioners and artists as Petra Cabot , Henry P. Glass and Hector Leonardi in his growing industrial design firm. Russel Wright was born in Lebanon, Ohio into a historic old American family, Wright's mother had direct lineage with two signers of the Declaration of Independence , and his father and grandfather were local judges. Both his parents were Quakers. Wright's only child, Annie,

578-663: The home and did early research on plastic Melmac dinnerware for restaurant use. Wright's first Melmac line of plastic dinnerware for the home, called "Residential" was manufactured by Northern Plastic Company of Boston beginning in 1953. "Residential" received the Museum of Modern Art Good Design Award in 1953. "Residential" was one of the most popular Melmac lines with gross sales of over $ 4 million in 1957. The line remained popular for many years continuing in production by Home Decorators, Inc. of Newark, New York . Wright introduced his Melmac dinnerware line called "Flair" in 1959. One of

612-619: The home are displayed. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and a US Department of Interior designated National Historic Landmark . Manitoga is open to the public, operated by the non-profit Russel Wright Design Center, with tours and hiking trails. Wright's work is found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York; the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum of

646-414: The molds were required which resulted in slight changes to the shape from the original design. Where no modifications were required, the greater shrinkage of the contemporary clay during firing results in the final object being of slightly smaller size then when directly compared to an example of original vintage production. As well many completely new shapes designed for modern day use have been created. Like

680-462: The new name were the two potteries in the area. As of 2015 the company continued to manufacture all of its products in the United States. A visitor center, museum, and factory outlet are maintained at its headquarters. In March 2020, Homer Laughlin China Company (HLCC), owned by the Wells family, sold its food service divisions along with the Homer Laughlin name to Steelite International ,

714-448: The original line, the current day production features an evolving number of glaze colors. In addition to Fiesta, two other lines of colorful dinnerware in bright, solid-colored glazes were introduced in the 1930s. Harlequin was introduced in 1938 as a less expensive alternative to Fiesta and was commissioned by and sold exclusively at Woolworth's stores. The third line of bright solid color ware produced by Homer Laughlin during that era

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748-507: The patterns of "Flair", called "Ming Lace" has the actual leaves of the Chinese jade orchid tree tinted and embedded inside the translucent plastic. As with his ceramic dinnerware, Wright began designing his Melmac only in solid colors, but by the end of the 1950s created several patterns ornamented with decoration, usually depicting plant forms. Wright designed a succession of popular furniture lines for many furniture companies beginning in

782-454: The popular and colorful Fiesta line of dinnerware in 1936. Fiesta dinnerware continued to be produced through the late 1960s, with a number of new colors offered before the entire line was phased out in 1973. Fiesta was re-introduced by the company in 1986 and remains in production. The new Fiesta line contains a number of shapes produced from the original molds, although with the change to a fully vitrified (harder) clay body, some modifications to

816-495: The storied name was sold also. At the time, Elizabeth Wells McIlvain, president of The Homer Laughlin China Company, said the Wells family entered into the sale of the foodservice division to focus exclusively on Fiesta, the company's widely celebrated American retail brand. In the 1920s the firm advertised itself as the largest pottery company in the world. Estimates of production range from 25,000 to 35,000 different patterns since production started. Homer Laughlin began producing

850-474: The theater led to further work with George Cukor , Lee Simonson , Robert Edmond Jones , and Rouben Mamoulian . His theater career came to an end when George Cukor closed his Rochester, New York stock company at the end of 1927. Upon returning to New York City, he started his own design firm making theatrical props and small decorative cast metal objects. Although firmly rooted in the Midwest , he spent

884-544: The urging of his academic adviser at Princeton, confirmed his conviction gained in the year before college while a student at the Art Students League of New York under Kenneth Hayes Miller and Boardman Robinson , that his future was in the field of art. Wright left Princeton for the New York City theater world and quickly became a set designer for Norman Bel Geddes . This early association with

918-497: Was Riviera dinnerware [1938], which is distinctive for its triple-scalloped corners on a square shape. Riviera was available in red, yellow, light green, mauve blue, ivory [during the war] and occasionally cobalt blue. Production of Riviera ended circa 1948–49. Harlequin was produced until 1964 and was briefly reintroduced in 1979 for the Woolworth company's 100 year anniversary. Epicure, a line based on popular colors and shapes of

952-512: Was Wright's "American Modern" flatware designs for John Hull Cutlers Corporation in c. 1951. He also designed top selling wooden furniture, spun aluminum dining accessories and textiles. His simple, practical style was influential in persuading ordinary Americans to embrace Modernism in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Wright's trademarked signature was the first to be identified with lifestyle -marketed products. Wright designed several popular lines of Melmac melamine resin plastic dinnerware for

986-411: Was an American industrial designer . His best-selling ceramic dinnerware was credited with encouraging the general public to enjoy creative modern design at table with his many other ranges of furniture, accessories, and textiles. The Russel and Mary Wright Design Gallery at Manitoga in upstate New York records how the "Wrights shaped modern American lifestyle". Wright's approach to design came from

1020-693: Was founded in 1790; from about 1937 to about 1998 it was operated by Dunn Bennett & Co Ltd (a company established in 1876 in Hanley ), then by Steelite International. In March 2020, the food service divisions of the Homer Laughlin China Company and its sister company, the Hall China Company, were acquired by Steelite. The former Homer Laughlin and Hall China manufacturing operations were subsequently renamed The Fiesta Tableware Company. Homer Laughlin's Fiesta retail line

1054-594: Was introduced in 1942 and some of the designs stayed popular through the 1950s. Russel's early art training was under Frank Duveneck at the Art Academy of Cincinnati while still in high school. While following his family's tradition of studying for a legal career at Princeton University , he was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and won several Tiffany & Co. prizes for outstanding World War I memorial sculptures. This, along with

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1088-528: Was not part of the sale and will continue to be manufactured at the existing plant in Newell, West Virginia, US. This article about a company of the UK is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a manufacturing company in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Russel Wright Russel Wright (April 3, 1904 – December 21, 1976)

1122-528: Was only two years old when Mary died in 1952, necessitating Wright's raising their adopted daughter as a single parent. Annie Wright continues to manage her father's designs and products through Russel Wright Studios. After his wife's death, Russel Wright retired to his 75-acre (300,000 m ) estate, Manitoga in Garrison, New York , building an eco-sensitive Modernist home and studio called Dragon Rock surrounded by extensive woodland gardens. Dragon Rock

1156-476: Was produced for the Quaker Oats Company as a way for the company to drive sales of its flagship breakfast product. Back then, companies like Quaker Oats would offer dinnerware and household items by marketing to their customers the ability to collect box tops from their products, which consumers could then send in to Quaker Oats with a reduced price per piece or set of the desired pieces of dinnerware

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