The History of Phoenixville Majolica
The Phoenixville Pottery Festival is happening August 2, 2024. While the event celebrates ceramic artists of today, it also looks back to the majolica pottery once made in Phoenixville.
The festival logo, designed by Cynthia Oswald, was inspired by old text from an original majolica catalog cover. The silkscreen shirts, created by Kenzie De, are based on illustrations of the pottery. Additionally, The Upstairs Studio Artists will have a historical display of majolica from the private collection of Ryan Conroy.
Download FREE coloring pages of the festival logo and pottery illustrations.
Learn more about Phoenixville majolica in the article below!
Majolica made in Phoenixville is still considered to be the finest of its kind, which this style of pottery was made all over the world.
The Phoenix Pottery, Kaolin, and Fire Brick Company was started in 1867 by some of the big players in the Phoenix Iron Company along Starr Street, between Prospect and Church Streets. There once stood 40 foot pottery kilns and a few buildings that encompassed the company. They were looking for a local source of fire bricks to build blast furnaces at the Phoenix Iron Company.
Deposits of kaolin clay were discovered at Third and Main Streets, and from an area along the Pickering Creek. This clay was of high quality which made it possible to produce refractory bricks for iron furnaces and Majolica pottery. American made Majolica became very popular after the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where English firms showed off their patterns. Majolica was invented in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent potter, Herbert Minton, first showed it at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. Credit must also be given to Leon Arnoux, a French potter Minton hired as Art Director in 1848 who developed new glaze colors and kilns.
David Smith, a potter from England and William Hill, an experienced potter, joined the firm adding their talents to that of Griffen. By 1882, the firm was known as Griffen, Smith, and Hill (GS & H), and it began manufacturing Etruscan Majolica.
Most historians say the name came from the island of Majorca, as early majolica was patterned after Italian tin-glazed earthenware shipped from the island in the 16th century. In ancient times the Etruscans, or residents of the region around Rome, Italy, had perfected the process. G S & H added the word “Etruscan” to their logo. As an adjective, the word “Etruscan” means art.
GS&H used molds and then special steam-powered tools for pressing and grinding the majolica. The high gloss and brilliant colors like pink, green, blue, yellow and more came from glazes made from oxides to which tin and lead were added. The oxides were ground and added to liquid clay or slip and sand to make the glazes. The tin that was added to the lead in the glazes gave Phoenixville Majolica its special brilliance. The glazes required some serious talent from artists because the process allowed no retouching. Many local women, men and children went to work at the company and painted on the blend of bright colors that distinguish GS & H majolica. In 1880, the company employed 74 people – 55 men and 19 women The average wage at that time was $2.50 per day although piecework pay did generate higher wages for some workers.
A major distinction for this special pottery was the very unique earth, plant and animal patterns that were special to Phoenixville. Patterns such as seaweed, sunflowers, begonias, leaves, bamboo, fish, dogs, dolphins and many more, are unique to GS&H.
They were awarded a Gold medal in the 1884 Worlds Industrial & Cotton Exposition, showing two large urns/vases that they made just for the event. Those two pieces are on display at the Historical Society and you can view them at any time. After this recognition, they were flooded with orders and received a contract from the A & P Company as premiums for people who purchased other items from their catalog.
In 1890, there was a fire at the plant. Four months later it reopened as the Griffen Pottery Company and in 1894 became Phoenix Pottery. William Hill left the firm in the early 1880s and Mr. Smith sold out in 1889 due to poor health. Nine different owners subsequently could not make a profit, so the firm closed in 1903 and dismantled the kilns. The remaining buildings of the pottery were demolished in 1929.
Out of all the Majolica made throughout the world, the style made in Phoenixville is synonymous with its history and is still considered the highest quality and the most desirable when collecting the pottery.
