Arnold Krog (1856 - 1931) Danish Designer

Early life & education

Krog was born in Frederiksværk, the son of inspector at Frederiksværk Iron Works Hans Jacob Grøgaard Krog (1822–88) and Jenny Meyer (1824–1905). He graduated from Efterslægtselskabets Skole in 1873. He then apprenticed as a mason for half a year under C. Wienberg and studied drawing under C. V. Nielsen.

He enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in October 1874, graduating in 1880. In 1877–78, together with Martin Nyrop, Hack Kampmann, and Martin Borch, he contributed to Hans J. Holm’s surveying of Kronborg Castle. He studied Majolica ceramics on a journey to Italy in 1877–83. He also worked as a draughtsman for Ludvig Fenger and contributed to Ferdinand Meldahl and Heinrich Hansen’s interior restoration of Frederiksborg Castle. He also received attention for his Moorish Hall at the Panopticon Building in Copenhagen.

Royal Copenhagen

After Aluminia acquired the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactury in 1882, its director, Philip Schou (1838-1922), sought someone to revive the stagnating company artistically. In 1884 he asked the xylographer Frederik Hendriksen for advice on the matter, and he proposed Krog as a possible candidate for the job. Krog was hired on a trial basis in October 1884 and was appointed artistic director of the company permanently in January 1885.

Embed from Getty Images

Krog introduced a new style with inspiration from Japanese porcelain and nature. His achievements won recognition at the Nordic Exhibition of 1888 in Copenhagen and international attention at the 1891 General Land Centennial Exhibition in Paris, where the company won the grand Prix. It was also for the Nordic Exhibition 1888 that Arnold Krog introduced the first underglaze memorial plate from Royal Copenhagen, which would become the inspiration for the later Danish Christmas plates.

Sources

Arnold Krog – Wikipedia. (2019, May 1). Arnold Krog – Wikipedia. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Krog

More on Ceramics

Ernest Chaplet (1835 – 1909) French ceramicist and studio potter

Ernest Chaplet (1835 – 1909) was a French ceramicist, an early studio potter’ who mastered slip decoration, rediscovered stoneware, and conducted copper-red studies. From 1882 to 1885, he was the director of Charles Haviland’s workshop to study decorative processes, where he collaborated with artists such as Paul Gauguin. He eventually moved to Choisy-le-Roi, where he…
Stunning White Ceramic Vase Modern Home Decor

The White Ceramic Vase Set 2 features a unique donut shape, two large and small vases, and is made of high-quality ceramic material. Its sleek, modern look complements any home decor style, and is easy to clean and maintain.Read More →
The Workshop Guide to Ceramics – Book Shop

The Workshop Guide to Ceramics By Duncan Hooson and Anthony QuinnRead More →
Discovering the Magic of Plateelbakkerij de Distel

Plateelbakkerij de Distel was a Dutch ceramics firm founded in 1895 in Amsterdam. It employed artists for both designing and painting, and produced art pottery, utility ware, tiles, ceramics for special events, and small sculptures. Exhibitions were held before WWI, including the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.Read More →
Fujina – Japanese Folk Pottery

Fujina pottery is made at Matsue, Shimane. 19th-century products include bluish-green tea bowls and white, yellow, or bluish-green domestic pottery. Later urban work promotes folk art.Read More →
A Closer Look at Haviland, a French Porcelain Factory

Haviland was a French porcelain factory founded by American David Haviland in 1843 and operated until 1914. The Haviland family were skilled entrepreneurs and dedicated to their employees’ welfare, with a special fund to aid soldiers and their families, a mutual support fund, an association, social housing, and a programme for kids’ vacations.Read More →
Kutani Porcelain Factory – Honshu, Japan

The Maeda family were hereditary feudal lords who founded and exclusively operated the Kutani Porcelain Factory, a privately owned Japanese factory in Kutani Mura, West Honshu, in the late cI7.Read More →
What is Nottingham Earthenware Pottery?

Nottingham earthenware is English pottery from the thirteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. (The last authenticated piece was created in 1799.) Usually brown, with a faint metallic lustre. Often decorated with lines incised around the piece. Read More →
Arzberg Porcelain – prestigious German design

Arzberg is regarded as one of the most prestigious porcelain design houses in the world. The definition of good design. Arzberg combines aesthetics, functionality, and durability.Read More →
Eureka Pottery – American Ceramics manufacturer

The Eureka Pottery was the last commercial pottery constructed during the historic three decades during which potteries were established in Trenton. The company made the most beautiful majolica in Trenton. It was established in 1883 by Leon Weil, who Noah and Charles Boch succeeded. It was closed in 1887 due to fire, the constant enemy…
Moorcroft British (ca. 1913) art pottery manufacturer

William Moorcroft started Moorcroft, a British art pottery manufacturer, in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in 1913.Read More →
Otto Lindig (1895 – 1966) German Ceramicist

He was an enthusiastic supporter of the pottery workshop at the Bauhaus, contending that it should be included in the school’s curriculum. When it was separated into design and production workshops, Lindig supervised the latter, combining hand work and mass production approaches.Read More →
Trude Petri-Raben (1906 – 1989) German Ceramicist

From 1927 she studied porcelain at Verinigdten Staatsshulen für freie und angewandte Kunst (United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts), Berlin, and Staatliche Porzellan-Manufakture, Berlin (Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin).Read More →
Grand Feu Art Pottery – California

Grand Feu Art Pottery, was founded in California by Cornelius Brauckman. Its output was of high quality and aesthetically distinctive. Generically, grand feu is ceramic ware fired at 2500°F (1400°C), maturing its body and glaze simultaneously. Grand feu is both porcelain and gres, and Grand Feu Art Pottery specialises in the latter.Read More →
Blue-dash charger – Design Object

Blue-dash charger is a large circular earthenware dish made in England (especially Bristol and Lambeth) in the late 17th century and early 18th. The name derives from the dashes of blue around the rims.Read More →
Thrown Pottery and the pottery wheel

A leading development in the world of craft and design that took some time to arrive is the pottery wheel.Read More →
Gien Pottery Factory – Traditional Earthenwares

Gien Pottery. This company is often known simply as Gien Pottery, after its location in that city. It was established inRead More →
Mintons – British Ceramics Firm

Thomas Minton bought a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent in 1793 and, in 1796, began production of inexpensive blue transfer-printed earthenware. His son Herbert Minton became director in 1836, expanded the range of wares, and hired artists. Read More →
Lucien Levy Dhurmer (1865 – 1953) a French Ceramicist

Levy-Dhurmer may have been responsible for the rediscovery of the metallic lustre glaze technique used in Middle Eastern ceramics from the 9th century and in Hispano-Moresque pottery of the 15th century. However, the sheen on pieces by Massier and Levy-Dhunner has not lasted. He used primarily light-coloured earthenware with gold highlights and sombre-glazed stoneware. Read More…
Dorodango Japanese polished dirt balls

The hand-rolling of this soil-based mixture can be relaxing and comfortable to do. Dorodango is not without its difficulties and needs a high degree of skill, patience and concentration. Given the fragility and inclination of the dorodango to break, the perfectly formed ball is elusive. It can also be a challenging process to achieve the…
Charles John Noke (1858 – 1941) British ceramicist

He modelled vases (including Columbis and Diana) and figures from 1893 to 1898. (including Holbein and Rembrandt vases). With Cuthbert Bailey and John Slater, he experimented with the reproduction of Sung, Ming, and early Ch’ing dynasty blood-red rouge flambé and sang-de-boeuf glazes from the late 1890s to the early 1900sRead More →
Marblehead Pottery (1904 – 1936) an American Pottery

Herbert J. Hall founded the Marblehead Pottery in 1904 as one of several “handcraft shops” that offered occupational therapy to “nervously worn outpatients.” The shops specialised in hand-weaving, woodcarving, and metalwork, with pottery being the most popular.Read More →
Grethe Meyer (1918 – 2008) Danish architect, & designer of furniture & glassware

She worked on the editorial staff of The Building Manual from 1944 to 1955. She was a crucial figure in Borge Mogensen’s research on the standardisation of consumer product sizes, and she collaborated with him frequently. They created the Boligens Byggeskabe (BB) and resund cabinet-storage systems in 1957.Read More →
Nora Gulbrandsen (1894 – 1978) Norwegian Designer

She was born to Aksel Julius Hanssen and Anna Sofie Lund in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. From 1917 until 1922, she was married to wholesaler Carl Ziegler Gulbrandsen (1892–1976). She married Otto Delphin Amundsen, an engineer and genealogist, in 1943.Read More →
Tea and coffee set by Marguerite Friedlander

She designed the Hallesche Form tea and coffee set for KPM in 1930, which was a huge commercial success, especially with Trude Petri’s gold rings (1931) decor.Read More →
Josiah Wedgwood British Ceramics Manufacturer

He started by producing basic tableware, but by 1759, he had expanded to include beautiful items like classical vases and portrait busts. He was one of the first producers to hire artists to create product designs.Read More →
Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) Arnhem-based Dutch Ceramics

Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) was an Arnhem-based Dutch ceramics company. Ram was founded in 1921 to produce high-quality ceramic bodies. At Ram 1921—25, Thomas A.C. Colenbrander was the designer for whom the company was established at the age of 80. Ram wares were sold at exhibition auctions as art rather than craft.Read More →