The glaze captures the imagination . . .
Russel Wright dedicated long hours to mixing glazes to achieve the depth of soft color of American Modern Dinnerware. The first glaze colors – Chartreuse, Seafoam, Granite Gray, Coral, and Bean Brown – were envisaged as a complementary palette. The glazes bring out the best in each other – a reflection of color in the natural world. In that vein, American Modern was introduced as “open stock” dinnerware.
Seafoam has an earthiness unexpected in blue . . . it is not a blue-gray. A stormy sea at sundown?
The seafoam glaze grounds chartreuse while the shape of the square platter cradles the salad plate. A platter without a distinct rim or a deep well was distinctly different in 1937. Russel Wright stripped the typical elements of a platter. His minimalist design would shape modern dinnerware while his glaze colors were imitated but never duplicated.
Good design does not dictate. The chop plate is a large square. Designed for the service of a meat course like chops. But, the shape and size works very well as a serving tray. Or, make a statement on the console. In the living room on the coffee table as a shared coaster. It is the perfect size for a twelve inch pizza. The ordinary looks extraordinary.
. . . the art of life is centered on the dinner table.
The Victorian etiquette books were heavy with standards that were unattainable for most consumers. There were bone plates, fish plates, under plates on the long list in proper etiquette books. And, of course, the time needed to set the table. That lifestyle was dictated by the past that was no longer practical in the every day of life.
American Modern set a new standard. He designed multi-functional pieces lacking decoration. Russel and Mary Wright wrote in their book that each table setting would be a unique design. It would be a work of art created by the homemaker. The art of the table.
