West German Pottery

Colour, form and a little bit of lava

West German pottery is one of the most distinctive chapters in post-war European design.

The term broadly describes decorative ceramics produced in the Federal Republic of Germany — West Germany — between 1949 and reunification in 1990. Although collectors often associate it most strongly with the 1960s and 1970s, production extended across several decades and encompassed an extraordinary variety of forms, colours and glaze techniques.

What began as part of Germany's post-war rebuilding became an extraordinarily creative ceramic industry. Manufacturers experimented with bold shapes, vivid colours, textured surfaces and increasingly adventurous glazes, producing everything from small table vases to huge architectural floor pieces.

The result is pottery that rarely blends quietly into the background.

And that's probably why we like it.

Post-war Germany and a new design language

After the Second World War, Germany's ceramics industry had to rebuild alongside much of the rest of the country's manufacturing base.

The economic expansion of the 1950s and 1960s — the Wirtschaftswunder, or economic miracle — created growing demand for modern furnishings and decorative objects. Companies responded with ceramics designed for the new interiors of the period: colourful, affordable and distinctly contemporary.

Rather than concentrating primarily on formal table services, many West German manufacturers became known for individual decorative pieces — particularly vases, bowls and jugs.

Designers developed a huge library of ceramic forms, while glaze specialists continually reinvented the appearance of those same forms.

That's one of the joys of collecting West German pottery today.

You can find the same vase shape in dozens of completely different finishes.

At the landmark 2006 Fat Lava exhibition in King's Lynn, for example, one display showed examples of the same Scheurich form in more than 70 different glazes.

The big names

There were many West German pottery manufacturers, but a handful appear particularly frequently in collections today.

Scheurich

Perhaps the name most closely associated with West German pottery is Scheurich.

The business began in 1928 as a wholesaler of glass and porcelain, while ceramic production commenced in 1954 at Kleinheubach. Scheurich went on to become an enormous producer of decorative ceramics, creating an extraordinary number of forms and glaze combinations.

For collectors, one of Scheurich's great attractions is variety. The same model can appear restrained and earthy in one glaze and completely outrageous in another.

Scheurich pieces also provide one of the best examples of the West German numbering system — more on that below.

Bay Keramik

Bay Keramik became another prolific name in post-war German ceramics.

Bay produced everything from modest decorative vases to substantial floor pieces, often using strong geometric shapes and rich brown, orange, cream and green glazes.

Today, Bay is particularly appealing because many examples remain relatively affordable, making them a very good entry point into West German pottery collecting.

Carstens Tönnieshof

Carstens has a particularly interesting post-war story.

After the family's earlier business in eastern Germany was expropriated, Ernst and Christian Carstens established ceramic production at Tönnieshof from 1946. The company expanded dramatically during the post-war economic boom and became one of West Germany's major ceramic manufacturers and trendsetters before eventually declining.

Carstens pieces can range from restrained modernist forms to wonderfully colourful textured designs.

Dümler & Breiden

Dümler & Breiden was another important producer, particularly associated with well-designed forms and distinctive relief decoration.

Collectors may encounter the interlocking DB factory mark, although some pieces carry only form and size numbers. Later examples can carry the full Dümler & Breiden name.

Ruscha

Ruscha is particularly important because of its role in the development of experimental post-war glaze techniques.

Ceramicist Otto Gerharz Sr. became artistic production manager at Ruscha in 1951, where he developed extensive expertise in glaze chemistry before leaving to establish Otto Keramik in 1964.

That connection gives us a lovely bridge between the genuine vintage West German pieces at Three Craws and the contemporary Otto Keramik pieces still being produced today.

Other names collectors may encounter include Steuler, Ceramano, ES Keramik, Roth and Jopeko, among many others.

So what exactly is Fat Lava?

This is where things get slightly muddled.

West German pottery and Fat Lava are not the same thing.

Fat Lava describes a particular family of thick, textured or volcanic-looking glazes associated with some West German ceramics.

Many West German vases have completely smooth glazes and should not really be described as Fat Lava at all.

The term itself is much newer than the pottery.

Collector and author Mark Hill explains that neither he nor collector Graham Cooley invented the phrase. They had seen German eBay sellers using it to describe ceramics with thick lava glazes. Hill suggests it developed from imperfect translation: the German word dick can mean thick, but can also translate as fat.

And so Fat Lava stuck.

The term became internationally familiar after the landmark 2006 exhibition “Fat Lava: West German Ceramics of the 1960s & 70s” at King's Lynn Arts Centre.

The exhibition featured more than 500 ceramics from Graham Cooley's collection and attracted over 3,500 visitors. Mark Hill's accompanying publication helped introduce makers, designers and factory information to a much wider audience.

Today, Fat Lava has become something of a catch-all phrase online — but at Three Craws we'll try to use it properly.

If the glaze isn't actually thick, volcanic or heavily textured, we'll simply call it West German pottery.

Reading the base

One of the most enjoyable parts of West German pottery collecting is turning a vase upside down.

Quite often, the information on the base looks rather cryptic:

517-30
239-41
70-40

But those numbers can be extremely useful.

For Scheurich, the usual system consists of a three-digit form number, followed by a dash and the approximate height in centimetres.

So:

Scheurich 517-30

means:

517 = vase form
30 = approximately 30cm tall

Scheurich frequently marked pieces simply with the form number and W. Germany or West Germany, while the actual company name was often carried on a paper or foil label that may long since have disappeared.

Other factories also used form and size numbering systems, although the precise conventions varied between manufacturers.

That means an apparently anonymous vase marked only:

W. Germany 553-38

can sometimes still be identified by comparing the form, clay, base style and known factory catalogues.

This is also why original factory labels are so nice to find.

Can the numbers date a vase?

Usually, not by themselves.

Collectors sometimes assume that a low form number means an earlier vase, but manufacturers reused numbers and produced the same forms for long periods.

Scheurich in particular produced individual forms in many different glazes and sometimes across several years.

So dating generally involves combining clues:

form + glaze + factory mark + label style + clay + documented catalogues

rather than relying on one number alone.

A short West German pottery timeline

1949 — West Germany is established
The Federal Republic of Germany is formed, giving us the political period from which the term West German pottery ultimately comes.

1950s — Modern production expands
Germany's growing post-war economy creates increasing demand for decorative ceramics. Scheurich begins ceramic production in 1954, while manufacturers such as Carstens, Ruscha and others expand rapidly.

1960s — Experimentation accelerates
Forms become increasingly sculptural and glaze chemistry increasingly adventurous. Textured, flowing and highly reactive finishes appear alongside graphic modernist decoration.

1970s — Colour and texture at full volume
This is the period most people picture when they think of West German pottery: orange, brown, green, yellow, red, dramatic floor vases and heavily textured surfaces.

1980s — Production continues
West German decorative pottery continues well beyond the classic Fat Lava period, although styles and manufacturers evolve.

1990 — German reunification
With reunification, West Germany ceases to exist as a country of origin, bringing the literal West German pottery period to an end.

The pottery, of course, remained.

What makes one piece more collectable than another?

There isn't a simple answer — and that's part of the fun.

The factory name matters, but it is only one part of the story.

Collectors may pay particular attention to form, glaze, size, designer, rarity, original labels and condition.

A common Scheurich form in an unusual spectacular glaze can be more desirable than a rarer form in an ordinary finish.

Large floor vases often have tremendous decorative impact, while smaller pieces can sometimes be much harder to find.

Certain designer-attributed pieces or unusual glaze combinations can command considerably stronger prices.

And because glaze reactions could vary during firing, two examples of the same model and glaze may not look exactly alike.

So rather than asking simply:

“Is Scheurich valuable?”

a better question is:

“Which Scheurich, in which form, with which glaze?”

Condition and character

Vintage West German pottery was made to be used and displayed, and many pieces are now fifty or sixty years old.

Light base wear, occasional firing marks, glaze variation and minor manufacturing irregularities aren't unusual.

What matters much more to us are chips, cracks, repairs, significant scratches or restoration.

At Three Craws, we'll photograph and describe condition as clearly as possible so you know exactly what you're buying.

We also won't describe natural glaze variations as damage simply because a surface isn't perfectly uniform.

With this pottery, unpredictability is often part of the attraction.

Why we love West German pottery

There is something gloriously confident about it.

A 40cm vase in orange, brown and cream doesn't politely disappear into a room.

It announces itself.

The sheer range is extraordinary too. One day you find something restrained and architectural; the next you find a vase covered in what looks like molten volcanic rock.

And because so many forms were produced with so many different glazes, collecting West German pottery can become dangerously addictive.

You start with one vase.

Then you discover that it came in another glaze.

Then another size.

Then you need a floor vase.

We've seen how this ends. 😁

At Three Craws Collectables, we look for West German pieces with strong form, interesting glaze, good colour and plenty of character — from recognised makers such as Scheurich and Bay Keramik to pieces whose maker still needs a little detective work.

Some are serious collector pieces.

Some simply stopped a Craw in its tracks.

Both are welcome.