Magnolia Tree Gardening Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Madeline Ashley’

Wilton Armetale is a pewter and silver look-alike material developed by the Wilton Brass Company in 1963. The metal was ideal to make cook and serve wares that were inspired by specific themes.

The Artistic Design category is one of the collections created by the company. The emphasis of this collection was on historic reference. It was also more eclectic in applicable environments than categories like Natural, Grand or Classic. The products under this collection interpret historic references in a contemporary manner.

The Artistic Design Collection includes sub-categories like Antiquity, Songs & Sonnets and Visionary. We look at each of these sub-categories in the following sections.

The Antiquity Collection

The products in this collection reference various cultural designs, many of them dating back to antiquity. Ethnic designs of ancient and more recent tribal communities are reflected in this collection.

The tribal motifs include American Indian and African designs used during historical times. Early American folk art designs are also included under the Antiquity category.

The African collection includes pitchers, trivets, bowls, casseroles, chip & dip servers, trays and wine bottle coasters, with rim designs inspired by tribal art displayed on canoes, houses, fabrics, shields and other objects of the tribal communities of Chad, Kenya and several other African countries.

The Doves & Hearts series was based on American folk art motifs, such as the Lovebirds Bread Tray that depicted two lovebirds facing each other with a heart between them. The series seeks to recapture American Colonial, Traditional and Country environments.

Songs & Sonnets Collection

This series celebrates the diversity of the world’s people, as seen through songs, stories, poetry and designs of different communities. We look at a few examples.

The Potlatch series remembered the ceremonial gift-giving festival of American Northwest Coastal Indians. The series included carved Canoe Bowls, Eagle candleholder, a Totem of a Bear and Beaver, a plate with a Raven and Human Face, a tray with layers of masks and faces and a bowl with a Seal design.

The Reggae series employed a festive and whimsical combination of spirals and zig zags to evoke the rhythms of the Caribbean.

The Copacabana series references the deco architecture of South Miami Beach, with stylized palm tree and coconuts along a beach evocative of ocean waves and clouds above.

The Visionary Collection

This collection includes the Scroll, Oasis, Elara, Boston and Free Form series.

The lively scroll designs infuse the symmetry of classical designs with the dynamic movement of the scroll motif.

The flowing lines and sweeping forms of the Oasis series seeks to capture the strength of Italian Futurism and organic flow of Japanese Zen.

Elara is one of Jupiter’s moons, and products in this series have highly polished curvilinear surfaces and sculptured contours, creating a contemporary cosmopolitan ambience.

Free form designs are seen in such collections as those created by Bruce Fox in Free Form Bowls and Banana Leaf Large Servers, and in the Cloud series serving pieces inspired by cumulous clouds.

The Wilton Armetale Artistic collections are indeed eclectic, suitable for varied environments.

Wilton Armetale developed the aluminum alloy based material that they called Armetale, combining ‘art’ and ‘metal’. This metal was capable of being cast and worked upon by hand.

The Wilton Company’s emphasis was on producing themed cook and serve ware, and incidentals with the new material. This was not a problem as US Food & Drugs Administration had approved the material for food service.

The range of themes was varied, and included Antique, Natural, Classic, Americana and Artistic. In this article, we look at products with themes of different holidays.

Christmas Season

The 12 Days of Christmas series consisted of Christmas Tree ornaments, depicting Partridge to the Drummers, one each year. While 1978 saw the Partridge the last one in 1989 showed the Drummers. These are not being produced any more.

Wilton Armetale has continued to introduce other items like collectible plates, and serving pieces such as trays, dinner plates, mugs and bowls each Christmas season. Traditional Christmas songs, Street scenes, Angels and other religious depictions adorned these items.

Christmas tree motifs, in alternating green and red, were the theme of a festive Christmas service series that included a goblet and a crested mug with a ceramic insert. A more formal alternative to the trees series was the star topped tree in an oval signet, accented in red.

The White Holly series that included three plates, a wine bottle coaster, a trivet and a goblet had decorative rim motif and was accented in white.

The Christmas series are collectibles and heirlooms, and could be used for presenting food on the table, or for displaying on the wall.

Halloween

A dancing skeleton is the theme of the dancing skelly series of Halloween season products that include an oval tray, large round bowl, trivet, large round tray and wine bottle coaster.

Easter Collection

The Easter collection combines the scenes of spring and the traditional celebrations associated with Easter.

The collection includes a bunny egg tray and bunny bread tray depicting a bunny among undergrowth and hen egg tray with a hen on her eggs in the middle.

Wilton Armetale Holiday Range

Though probably not as extensive as many other themes, such as artistic and Americana, Wilton Armetale’s holiday collections do effectively celebrate the spirit of the holidays. The products are both collectibles and utility articles that could last a lifetime.

The holiday range is supplemented by Grill ware that can be used for both grilling and serving. The grill range includes trays, saucepots, bowls, platter, griddle, trivet and a vegetable griller.

Arthur Court is a range of “silverware” and decorative products made of aluminum, polished to a brilliant luster. More significantly, the products are designed professionally, with inspiration from natural and man-made objects.

The prestigious range of products is made by Arthur Court Designs, of Arthur and Elena Court of San Francisco Bay area. In addition to running the company, the Courts design the products, contribute their time to conservation and wildlife causes, travel all over the world and collect minerals and artifacts.

Arthur Court worked for design and decorating firms for eighteen years before opening his own business. His vast mineral collection inspired and helped him create exotic designs, and the intricate aluminum creations that he offered proved highly successful in the market.

Elena Orsini-Court studied Oriental art history and modern art. She has worked as a corporate art consultant and curator for public art exhibitions. She is the director of product development at Arthur Court Designs, and also its president.

Designs come from numerous sources. It can come from the flowers, leaves and stems of plants and trees, animals and their movements, men, women and their creations. Traditional art provides many of the motifs used in products such as those made by Arthur Court Designs.

The vast and exotic collection of minerals gathered by the Courts would be an invaluable reference source for any designer. And Arthur Court Designs has used this source to marvelous effect.

Over five hundred designs have been used in their range of serve ware and decorative products. We take a brief look at a sampling of the range.

The American Traditional series include casseroles, trays, salad sets, trivets, American traditional granite and chip & dip servers. The most striking feature of these products is their stunning designs and brilliant luster.

The Bunny range utilizes bunny shapes and patterns in decorative products like photo frame and swing ornaments and utility products like a salt & pepper set.

Della Robia series offers salad bowls, cheese/cracker sets, chip & dip servers and a pitcher worked with amazingly intricate patterns.

The Dragonfly series range from an intricate sweetener holder with dragonflies all round to a simple square plate with a dragonfly embossed in one corner.

The Longhorn features the American Buffalo and the range includes salt & pepper set, fruit bowl stand with a transparent acrylic bowl and an oblong tray, among other items.

The Soho range has a design that pleases the eye with its apparent simplicity despite the obvious sophistication.

Other series include American Wilderness, Autumn, Baby, African Safari, Fleur De Lis, Frog, Horse, Large Animal Coolers, Magnolia, Chili Pepper, Pineapple and Palm Leaf, Tuscan, Western, Sealife Designs and even a Collegiate (offering licensed insignias of specific schools).

It is no wonder that Arthur Court Designs has been able to capture the fancy of consumers with the wide variety, sophistication and brilliance of its designs. The numerous themes cater to varied interests and the artistic execution pleases the eye and mind.