Inger Waage, (5 February 1923 – 16 December 1995), was an industrial
ceramist
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...
at the Norwegian producer of
earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
,
Stavangerflint AS.
Biography
She was born in
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
on the West coast of
Norway. In 1943 she was accepted as a student at the
Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry in Oslo to study
ceramics for three years. After graduation in 1946, she moved back to Stavanger and started her own ceramic workshop.
Inger Waage became the first leader of a new established department for
handicraft products at Stavangerflint AS in 1953. By 1955 her works were recognised by the market to such a degree that the company had to expand the production capacity by establishing an ''I.W department'', with up to ten assistant artists to cope with the orders of hand painted ceramic objects from the UK, US and other countries.
In 1968 Stavangerflint A/S merged with Figgjo Fajanse AS. The main office and the leadership of the artistic functions were moved to
Figgjo. Inger Waage continued her work at the Stavanger branch for eleven more years, and was also a member of the company's artistic team, until 1979 when the branch in Stavanger was closed down and Inger Waage left the company. She died in Stavanger, aged 72 years.
Works
Inger Waage's works may be divided into five main categories:
#Objects of applied arts (hand painted, in a combination of silk screen and hand painting, or solely silk screen)
#Designs for tableware (for household, children, hotels and institutions)
#Designs for souvenirs and give-away objects
#Unique pieces and objects for special occasions
#Works from her own pottery studio
Inger Waage is best known for her hand-painted decorative objects of art from the 1950s. Inger Waage's decorative design for tableware became an important part of her work and of the collection of Stavangerflint. From among her most renowned designs are: ''Flamingo – Bambus'', ''Flamingo –Chef'', ''Sera'', ''Smørbukk'', ''Senja'' and ''Kon Tiki''. ''Bambus'' is represented at The
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo. Her work is also permanently exhibited at the
Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in
Bygdøy, Oslo.
Souvenirs designed by Inger Waage are nearly always signed and are easily recognised by her drawing style. Nearly every town and places of interest in Norway and Denmark has its I.W. signed souvenir, and some towns and places in US are also represented.
External links
Inger Waage homepage
Stavangerflint homepage
Sources
*Gjerde, Jan Gjerde: ''Håndmalt – inger. Inger Waage 1923 -1995.'' With English Summary. Stavanger 2008.
*"From the history of Stavangerflint", Stavanger Museum Årbok 2006 (The annual report from The Museum of Stavanger 2006),
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waage, Inger
1923 births
1995 deaths
People from Stavanger
Norwegian ceramists
Norwegian women ceramists
20th-century ceramists