Ceramics by Florenz Pottery Pty. Ltd., Australia, 1934-48

Florenz pottery is interesting because, despite its recent history (it is mostly post Second World War), it has a complex past and is intertwined with another well-known art ware company, Casey.

There were actually three Florenz periods, with the name and flowing trademark being passed from one owner to the next. The founder and first owner was Florence Williams. Between 1934 and 1948 she made the highly collectable gumnut pieces, frequently of intricate design, highly glazed and fairly brittle. These are now highly collectable

In 1954 Florence Williams sold the company to HAP Insulators, whose owners were Harves, Archer and Pitcher. The factory produced a wide range of domestic pots, both slipware and wheel-thrown. The factory was located in Brookvale, New South Wales, and stayed there for the rest of its life. Pots decorated with Aboriginal designs are starting to be collectable. During this period the company was more... bought by Electrical Control and Engineering (ECE), then by Federated Engineering which went into liquidation. Florenz was then bought (again) by Joe Harves.

Now we must turn to another New South Wales company: Casey. This was founded by two partners whose surnames were Kirkwood and Cooper. Their initials 'KC' were first used, but then they were spelled out to form 'Casey'. Casey Ware was made by KC Industries of Croydon, whose associated business is Standard Resistor Company, Pty. limited.

Ronald Cooper bought out his partner and proceeded to make a very large range of slipware, the most common glaze being a distinctive purple with yellow and green streaks. Some wheel-thrown pots were also produced, but these are extremely rare.

After Ronald Cooper's death in 1969, his son John took over the factory which, by then, had stopped producing domestic pottery. Joe Harves offered to help him and this friendship eventually led to KC Industries taking over Florenz, with Joe Harves working for KC Industries.

Florenz produced household stoneware (see Figure 3.491. Twenty people were employed but, unfortunately, a profit was not made and so Florenz ceased production. KC Industries continued to make specialist industrial ceramics and Florenz became a 'shelf' company.

From: Carter's "Collecting Australiana", William & Dorothy Hall, published by John Furphy Pty. Ltd. 2005 less...