Russel Wright Sterling Chinaware

Thriftscore this afternoon bringing home 5 plates from the dinnerware line produced by Sterling China Company in 1949 and continued through the 1950’s. Designed by Russel Wright and available in five sizes; this line was mostly used by restaurants and hotels and is quite hard to find - these are the first I've seen, kicking off spring with some fanciful floral for our casual counter meals. .
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Sterling China by Russel Wright

50's Conant Ball Dresser and Nightstand - Pass It Forward

Last week as I walked through the furniture room at the Goodwill something under a varied array of faux decorator items caught my eye, in fact, what I saw made me stop in my tracks. I had never seen anything like it. It was a dresser and though feet spoke to a Mid-Century heritage, the drawers were offset and made the piece stand out from all the other 'brown wood' surrounding it on the floor. I pulled open the top drawer and immediately saw the familiar Conant Ball brand and thought 'Oh , My'.

ConantBall Brand

I do not like googling in the store (gauche), but I did a quick search to find out a little something about what was sitting in front of me. I quickly found a few samples after an images search and saw I had found a Conant Ball ModernMate set from the 1950's - I could not pass it by.

The 9 drawer maple dresser and matching Nightstand were unique and aesthetically gorgeous.

Conant Ball ModernMates 9 Drawer Dresser by Leslie Diamond NOT Russel Wright!! It has been postured that Russel Wrights' American Modern line built by CB in the 30's and 40's is definitely unique from the ModernMates lines built during the 50's and 60's. Advertisements and personal histories identify Leslie Diamond as the responsible designer for the ModernMates product line of Mid Century Modern Furniture.

Leslie Diamond ModernMates 9 Drawer Dresser by ConantBall 

After looking at the two pieces for a couple of days out in the garage, researching what I had found turned up some very interesting information. Touted on 1st dibs, Chairish and the like as "Russel Wright" designed with its 9 staggered drawers, the lowly redit had many threads supporting evidence provided by the granddaughter(?) of designer Leslie Diamond that indeed this piece was made in the 1950's and was part of Conant Ball's ModernMates line of furniture, that Mr. Wright had designed in the 30's and 40's for CB but not in the 50's as he had moved on to other engagements. I felt so cool knowing something the big boys had missed, what a weekend ....

Conant Ball Model 5308 D 9-Drawer Dresser. 

 

A Little Chartreuse

Auctions and Estate Sales are filling my sunday afternoons and my research into Russel Wright's American Modern is paying off as I found a few more pieces to add to the table this week.I will add these chartreuse pieces to the growing collection of Chutney Brown and Seafoam dinnerware that has been accumulating in the our new house.

Looking through the catalog for the Auction I saw a what seemed to be a strange description 'cupboard contents' and when I took a closer look I saw the now familiar shape of these american originals.I brought them home for $35.

American Modern in Chartreuse

Morgantown Ad

A short description at the Kovels website tells us "... Russel Wright designed dinnerwares in modern shapes for many companies. Iroquois China Company, Harker China Company, Steubenville Pottery, and Justin Tharaud and Sons made dishes marked Russel Wright". I have seen references to additional lines including commercial sets so even Kovels has some gaps in their information - take a look on the web, Mr. Wright was very prolific!

The Steubenville wares, first made in 1938, are the most common today. My new pieces above are from this collection.

Glassware designed by Russel Wright was also manufactured by different companies through the years including:

Imperial Ad

• Bartlett Collins (1957) "Eclipse" & "Sunburst" (I haven't seen ANY Sunburst but often see references to "Asterisk" are these the same?)
• Duncan Miller Imperial Flair (Flare)(1959) "Seed"
• Imperial Pinch(1951) designed to accompany "Iroquois Casual" 
• Old Morgantown/Modern (1951) was handmade glass. It included three sizes of tumblers, five stemmed items, a dessert dish, a pilsner, chilling bowl and a double old fashioned. It was made in colors to complement the American Modern line. The colors included Coral, Seafoam, Chartreuse, Smoke and Clear Crystal.

  

  Russel Wright Morgantown Glasses to 'Harmonize with dinnerware'

In the auction cupboard contents were also 4 Morgantown seafoam tumblers, 6 of the seafoam sherbert dishes and a chartreuse tumbler. A great addition to the now growing collection of our Mid-Century Dinnerware.

Morgantown Glassware

During the 1950s, American design was characterized by an organic modernist approach that rejected hard-edged forms in favor of curving forms inspired by the human body and the natural world. When I hold a Russel Wright (1904-1976) Morgantown glass it sits lightly in my hand, the texture almost sensual, the form pleasing and familiar. The response to his contributions in bringing his passion "Good design is for everyone." to Americans created the first recognizable ‘brand name’ in lifestyle marketing centered on an individual. Russel was the Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart of his day...deservedly so.

Chartreuse and Seafoam Glass

American Modern Dishware in Chartreuse and Seafoam

UPDATE:

Oh, Mr. Wright you continue to pull me into this organic #midcenturymodern vision of an environment void of hard edges and gratuitous excess - elegance in simplicity! Let nature dictate the form and thoughtful function follow ... Last week I found some American Modern dish ware in chartreuse and seafoam at an estate sale to complement the other pieces we have picked up. There were 5 place settings including a little black chutney thrown in for spice ... $45 and our table is a colorful splash from the #mcm palette ... 

Something Old / Something New

Dinnerware picked up at goodwill over the years resulted in an eclectic mix of colors and patterns coming together is a colorful splash when laid out over Tuscan table cloths from Williams Sonoma. This worked well and was worry free with the kids in their younger years, however ...

Moving into our new home, the kids and I thought with them getting older, an 'Adult' house - a place to relax, unwind, get our homework (and work) done in a non-stressful environment was where we wanted to live.

We dispensed with all things 'Kid-Like' such as playrooms (we wanted a war room for our gaming and software development activities), sippy cups and plastic dishes (GONE! we want something 'intentional') and yes, we know how to use the dishwasher and clean up after ourselves. So, as we look at dinnerware options for our new home we knew we wanted something MCM and yet FUN!

A few years ago, I had visited an estate sale in Marin and was looking for some oversize bowls to eat pasta out of (we had chipped/broken most of our existing large bowls) and picked up 3 Russel Wright American Modern dual lugged serving bowls thinking they were the same size as the now chipped or broken Italian knock-offs we had been using during the kids younger years. It was (of course!) Sunday, the prices were discounted and there was a table covered in Chartreuse and Black Chutney Brown dishes with weird shaped handles and shapes. I thought it would be FUN to have these around though they fit in with absolutely nothing we owned or I could even imagine ever owning since we were living in the country house and going for the Rustic, Shabby Chic look throughout.

I picked up the serving bowls and then selected about 20 pieces of mixed American Modern and Iroquois serving dishes, cereal bowls and a pitcher for the total price of $22.

I had no idea what I was buying but liked the colors and the shapes and thought we could use these for casual meals outside on the deck as we often dined Alfresco during the California summer months.

Now enlightened to the history of the uniquely shaped dinnerware, the kids and I decided we wanted to use American Modern dishes in our new house even if it meant washing them by hand because they aligned well with our value of 'FUN!'

Collectors Weekly starts out describing Wright's work by saying he produced the dinnerware with 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.

We had a small mix of Black Chutney and Chartreuse bowls and serving dishes and started watching Ebay and Etsy for necessary additions so we could set a dinner table. During this time I also saw his Morgantown glasses that were color coordinated with his dinnerware ... if possible, I would try to get 8 of these as well though at the asking price of $23 a glass at replacements.com I had to find some via another avenue.

Today, I found a Seafoam dinner plate, salad plate and a cereal bowl for $12 on Etsy. The seller was fairly local so shipping was $5 and 1 day later I received our first lovely blueish/green place setting for our new home. At about $5 a piece (delivered) I thought I had gotten a pretty good deal on dinnerware that typical goes for $7-12 for the small pieces and $10-18 for the dinner plate (PLUS Shipping) on EBay or Etsy. I have not seen many Russel Wright pieces on Craigslist and when I do they are usually at the premium Etsy / 1stDibs pricing levels. 

Interpur Flatware and Russel Wright American Modern Seafoam Place setting 

I'm liking what is happening and will continue my search for American Modern dinnerware, thinking a mix of the Chartreuse and Seafoam would look great with our table cloth!