New Fat Lava Exhibition in Amsterdam

Since Graham Cooley and I launched the first ‘Fat Lava’ exhibition and bookalogue in 2006, West German pottery has gone global. We certainly weren’t the first to appreciate this quirky and often much-maligned pottery from the 1960s & 70s, but the combined event crystalised the market, which has grown and grown like Flopsy since then.
One of the strongest forces behind this growth is Kevin Graham, who runs the Pottery & Glass Forum, and is the author and publisher of a number of invaluable specialist books on the area. He’s teamed up with retro dealer and collector Emiel Monnink of Retrominded to launch a fantastic exhibition in Amsterdam.
Of course, there’ll be plenty of the mass-produced Fat Lava designs that so many of us know and love on display. However, as the title ‘More Than Fat Lava’ suggests, there more to it than that, as a huge array of German studio pottery from the same period will also be exhibited. This is the first time that these two facets of 20thC ceramic design have been exhibited together, and I for one can’t wait to see it. It’s hard (and expensive) enough to mount any exhibition, and Kevin is also launching his new book on German studio potters, so please support them. You won’t regret it – it’ll be amazing.
I’ll be officially opening the exhibition at 3pm on 18th June, when the organisers will also be welcoming master potter Thomas Kummer as a special guest. The exhibition is free to visit, and is open to all from 12pm-5pm on 19th, 25th, 26th June, and 2nd & 3rd of July. The address is M.V Bouwdijk, Bastiaansestraat 15, 1054 RS Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and you can find out more information by clicking here.
I hope to see you there!