Rookwood Pottery Company facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Rookwood Pottery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
pottery buildings in 1904
Location in Ohio Show map of Ohio Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio
Built	1892
Architect	H. Neill Wilson (and later expanded)
NRHP reference No.	72001023
Added to NRHP	December 05, 1972

Japonisme in 1884

Rookwood Pottery is a famous American company known for making beautiful ceramic art. It started way back in 1880 and was a big deal until 1967. Luckily, it came back to life in 2004! The company first began in Cincinnati, Ohio, and guess what? It's back there again today. In its most popular years, from about 1890 until 1929, Rookwood made amazing decorative American art pottery in many cool styles.

The Story of Rookwood Pottery

How It All Began

A talented woman named Maria Longworth Nichols Storer started Rookwood Pottery in 1880. She was the daughter of a rich man named Joseph Longworth. Maria was inspired by the beautiful art she saw at a big show in Philadelphia. She especially loved the Japanese and French pottery.

The very first Rookwood Pottery was in an old school building. Maria named it Rookwood after her father's country home. The first pieces of pottery came out of the kiln (a special oven for ceramics) on Thanksgiving Day that year. For many years, the artists at Rookwood tried new things with glazes and kiln temperatures. This helped them create unique and popular American art pottery that was both pretty and useful.

Rookwood was special because it hired many women artists. A writer named Emily Faithfull even wrote about how successful the pottery was under Maria's leadership. She mentioned that women workers made beautiful bottles and vases that art experts loved.

Clara Chipman Newton was a key helper and artist at Rookwood for its first ten years. She worked with Maria to make sure the decorations and glazes were perfect. Another artist, Laura Anne Fry, also worked there as a painter and teacher from 1881 to 1888.

Later, a new Rookwood Pottery building was built in 1891–1892. It was designed by H. Neill Wilson, whose father was also a famous architect in Cincinnati.

Amazing Pottery Styles

The first pottery pieces from Rookwood had designs carved into colored clay. These were often red, pink, gray, or green. Some even had gold details or stamped patterns. Sometimes, people would buy unfinished pieces and decorate them themselves!

Later, Maria wanted a special look for Rookwood. She created the "Standard Glaze." This was a shiny, clear glaze with a yellow tint. It was often used over designs of leaves or flowers. They also made portraits, often of American Indian characters, using this glaze. A rare and special version of this glaze was called "tiger eye." It had a golden shimmer deep inside the glaze, but it was tricky to make!

Rookwood also made pottery inspired by Japonism, which was a popular style influenced by Japanese art. This happened after Maria invited a Japanese artist named Kitaro Shirayamadani to work for the company in 1887.

In 1894, Rookwood introduced three new glazes:

• "Iris" was a clear, colorless glaze.
• "Sea Green" was clear but had a green tint.
• "Aerial Blue" was clear but had a blue tint.

The "Aerial Blue" glaze was only made for one year, but the other two were used for over ten years!

As the Arts & Crafts Movement became popular, Rookwood created a "Vellum" glaze in 1904. This glaze had a soft, matte (not shiny) surface. You could still see the beautiful designs underneath, but they looked a little frosted.

One of the last glaze styles Rookwood made was "Ombroso," which appeared after 1910. This was a brown or black matte glaze used on pottery that was cut or carved.

Rookwood also started making special pottery for buildings in 1902. This part of the company became very famous quickly. Many homes in Cincinnati used Rookwood tiles around their fireplaces. You can still see original Rookwood tiles in big buildings like Carew Tower and Union Terminal in Cincinnati. In New York City, you can find them in places like Grand Central Station and even some subway stops! One very important Rookwood tile display is in the Carnegie West Branch of Cleveland Public Library. It shows a picture of Durham Cathedral in England.

The 1920s were a great time for Rookwood. The company had about 200 workers, including famous sculptors like Louise Abel. Almost 5,000 people visited the pottery each year!

• 

  Vase with bat and spiders, 1882

• 

  Jug by Abby Hyde Allen for Rookwood, 1883

• 

  Vase by Albert Robert Valentien, 1893, earthenware with mahogany glaze line

• 

  Vase by Kataro Shirayamadani, 1901

• 

  Vase, 1902

• 

  Fireplace by John D. Wareham, 1903

• 

  Vase, shape #2000, 1912

• 

  Angels by Louise Abel, c. 1920, architectural faience

• 

  Panel of Rookwood tiles of Durham Cathedral

• 

  The original buildings in 2011, seen from Holy Cross Monastery

Tough Times and a New Start

Rookwood Vase

The company faced big challenges during the Great Depression. People stopped buying art pottery, and architects couldn't afford Rookwood tiles anymore. By 1934, Rookwood started losing money. Some employees left to start their own pottery company. In 1941, Rookwood had to file for bankruptcy. Even though the company changed owners during these hard times, the talented Rookwood artists stayed.

In 1959, the Herschede Clock Company bought Rookwood. Production moved to Starkville, Mississippi. But the company couldn't fully recover from its past losses, and production stopped completely in 1967.

The Return of Rookwood

A New Chapter Begins

By 1982, it looked like Rookwood might be sold to companies overseas. But an art collector named Arthur Townley used all his savings to buy everything left of Rookwood. He made small amounts of pottery to keep the original trademarks alive. For over twenty years, Townley refused to sell Rookwood.

Then, in 2004, he teamed up with investors Christopher and Patrick Rose from Cincinnati. They decided to bring the company back home! In 2006, they bought all the remaining original Rookwood Pottery assets from Townley. This included the trademarks, over 2,000 original molds, and hundreds of secret glaze recipes!

In 2011, Martin and Marilyn Wade became the sole owners of the company. Today, Rookwood Pottery is making pottery again in its historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati. They have new kilns and equipment and have hired new staff. Rookwood Pottery also works with big organizations to create special awards and commemorative pieces. For example, Rookwood artist Roy Robinson designed the Center Court Rookwood Cup for a major tennis tournament.

In 2012, an old building in Chicago, the Monroe Building, restored its original Rookwood Pottery tiles. In 2013, a fireplace made by Rookwood Pottery was put in the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The co-owner, Marilyn Wade, said they wanted Rookwood to be a company that looks to the future and takes chances, just like it was in the beginning. That same year, Rookwood Pottery was featured on the Martha Stewart Living Blog and on the Science Channel show How It's Made.

In 2015, the company worked with artist Kevin Auzenne to create cool baseball-themed tiles. In 2017, Rookwood Pottery and the Cincinnati Zoo made a special Fiona ornament. Fiona is a famous baby hippo who was born early.

You can see a special gallery of Rookwood Pottery at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Amazing Rookwood pieces are also shown at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg.