The Wright Stuff by Linda Rosenkrantz on Creators.com

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The Wright Stuff

In the field of modern design, there are two outstanding Wrights. The first to come to mind is the seminal architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright. But there was another of considerable significance, and that was the industrial designer Russel Wright.

This Wright's career blossomed during the dark days of the Depression, a time when the clean, curved shapes that came to be called streamlined represented the hope that lay in the future, in the optimistic view of progress. It was a period when modern was a magic word, and the turning away from the sharp angularity of the Deco 1920s was seen in the design of everything from cars and planes to chairs and cocktail shakers. In the vanguard of this parade away from the past was a new group of professionals called industrial designers, one of the key members of which was Russel Wright.

Born in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1904, Wright's roots were in the theater, his early jobs including that of set designer and stage manager under the noted Norman Bel Geddes. Undoubtedly influenced by Bel Geddes, he moved into the field of industrial design and began to experiment in a number of different media and materials, which included furniture, ceramics, chrome, spun aluminum, glassware, plastic, fabrics and floor coverings.

Wright created the "Flexible Modern Line" for the Heywood-Wakefield Furniture Co., pioneering in the realm of bleached and blond furniture and quite possibly being the first to introduce the sectional sofa.

Russel Wright was also influential in his use of that quintessential Art Deco material, chromium — or chrome — creating sleek objects for the Chase Brass and Copper Company of Waterbury, Conn. Chase, with roots dating back to 1876, specialized in stylish lamps, smoking accessories and housewares, which were affordable approximations of what the 1930s public was admiring in the sophisticated "white telephone" films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

In addition to Wright, they employed such other well-known designers as Walter Von Nessen, Lurelle Guild and Dr. A. Reumann, as well as their in-house designer Harry Laylon.

But it was for his ceramic dinnerware that Wright was probably most widely known, and in this realm, it was his distinctive series called "American Modern," with its limpid, almost surreal asymmetrical forms, that would catch the public's fancy.

In collaboration with the ceramics department at Alfred University in New York state, he developed a range of rich yet subtly colored glazes. But because the shapes were so avant garde, Wright had difficulty in finding a factory willing to risk producing them, until the bankrupt Steubenville Pottery of East Liverpool, Ohio, decided to revive its operation and go back into production.

Colorful names — Bean Brown, Seafoam Blue, Black Chutney, Cantaloupe, Chartreuse Curry, Granite Grey, Cedar Green, Glacier Blue — were applied to the glazes and the dinnerware was on the market by 1939. By the time production ceased two decades later, American Modern had become the most successful line of household ceramics ever sold in America.

Other Russel Wright pottery — in such mouth-watering colors as Sugar White, Pink Sherbet, Lettuce Green and Ripe Apricot — was produced by the Iroquois China Company (1946-1960), while the Harker Chinaware Co. of East Liverpool made the White Coral line during the '50s. You'll also find his name on pieces made by Harker China Company, and Justin Tharaud and Sons.

There is a wide range of prices for the various kinds of Russel Wright material. In "Kovels' Antiques & Collectible Price List," you'll find both a 1930s aluminum, copper-plated lamp valued at $8,400, and a 10-inch granite gray American Modern dinner plate for the bargain price of $8.

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, most recently "Beyond Ava & Aidan: The Enlightened Guide to Naming your Baby" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.