ES KERAMIK ‘BERLIN’ FLOOR VASE 658/40

A Hans Kraemer designed floor vase dressed in Willi Hack's 'Berlin' décor for ES KERAMIK.  A perennial favorite with West German pottery collectors, Hack's 'BERLIN' is a striking decoration of frothy, white, and volcanic runic-style symbols on a glossy, red ground.  It seems especially well suited to this Hans Kraemer urn-shaped vase standing just shy of 16" (40 cm). WILLI HACK joined ES KERAMIK (Emons & Sönhe) in Rheinbach in 1954 after training as a porcelain and glass painter at M.J. Kludt in Duisdorf.  He was initially tasked with building an art department together with modeler and designer Hans Kraemer.  Later he became head of the painting department; as many as eighteen people would be employed at a time to realize his designs. It was the work of Cilli Wörsdörfer for Ruscha that inspired Hack to adopt the use of "elemental" décors.  This entailed breaking down several designs into their constituent components and their recombination into brand new permutations.  The method