By Louise Irvine A new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London celebrates the “The Artistic Home” home of the late 1800s and the creativity and innovation of British art potteries. The artists, many of them young women, painted and decorated vases, chargers, and other ornamental wares by

By Louise Irvine WMODA visitors will be all fired up when we reopen the museum as we are currently curating an exhibition with our fabulous rouge flambé wares. One of the stars is Bernard Moore who began experimenting with Chinese inspired high-fired reduction glazes during the 1890s. He perfected the

By Louise Irvine One of the most striking Art Nouveau designs at WMODA is a Royal Doulton jardinière and pedestal inspired by the famous American artist, Will Bradley (1868-1962). Nicknamed the “Dean of American Designers”, Bradley was the highest-paid American illustrator of the early 20th century. Charles J. Noke, Royal

By Louise Irvine “Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” was the mantra of William Morris, the British Arts & Crafts designer who revolutionized interiors during the Victorian era. He followed his own advice and worked with his wife,

As we head into summer, we are already hot at WMODA! The museum team has been busy unpacking and rebuilding your favorite galleries and more. Our reference library of British ceramics now has a new home, and we are creating an Ardmore Design shop in the heart of the Hollywood

By Louise Irvine The African hoopoe has been popping up on Ardmore designs for decades and flitted into our thoughts again as we reset the new Ardmore gallery in Hollywood. The bird was a star of the Camp Critters textile pattern and Savuti wallpaper design and interacts with monkeys and

By Louise Irvine Wine has been made from grapes in Sicily since 4000 BC and the state of altered consciousness caused by drinking was considered a religious experience in ancient Greece and Rome. Dionysus was worshipped by the Greeks as the god of wine and he was identified as Bacchus

By Louise Irvine The Georgian and Regency eras were periods of elegant refinement with fabulous fashions and décor made famous by Bridgerton, the popular historical romance on Netflix TV. Movies inspired by Jane Austen’s novels also conjure up the style and social life of the Regency period in the early

By Louise Irvine The first Artist Showcase exhibition at WMODA featured Rose Cabat’s porcelain “Feelies” to celebrate her 100th birthday on June 27th, 2014. At that time, Rose was the oldest practicing ceramic artist in America and she was still working at her potter’s wheel. She passed away in 2015

By Louise Irvine Glass is one of the world's oldest materials created by humans and it has been used to make art for millennia. The ancient Egyptians made colored glass beads for jewelry and the Romans developed hollow molded glass vessels. Glass blowing was first practiced in the 1st century