LARGE CARSTENS ‘ATELIER’ SERIES SHOULDER VASE Nr. 0870/30

A large and striking 'Atelier Series' shoulder vase from Carstens Tönnieshof with thick flowing brown and tan horizontal strips of fat lava on a dark brown base. CARSTENS TÖNNIESHOF was founded in 1946 by Ernst Carstens and his son Christian. Their family had had a long prior history of manufacturing ceramics and porcelain in Germany, but all of its businesses had collapsed by the end of WWII. Most of the CARSTENS factories wound up on East German soil when the country was divided and so were expropriated by the DDR. Father and son built the new Tönnieshof factory on a farm of that name in Fredelsloh in Lower Saxony, just west of the border with East Germany. Production of table ceramics began in 1947; the first known decorative pieces date from the early '50s. Ernst's wife Trude Carstens served as artistic director until her death in 1965. CARSTENS TÖNNIESHOFF was very successful for many years and produced an enormous variety of shapes and glazes. The 'Luxus' and 'Atelier' ranges wer