Paul Soldner Ceramics

At 1stDibs, there are several options of paul soldner ceramics available for sale. The range of distinct paul soldner ceramics — often made from ceramic, stoneware and earthenware — can elevate any home. There are all kinds of paul soldner ceramics available, from those produced as long ago as the 20th Century to those made as recently as the 20th Century. There are many kinds of paul soldner ceramics to choose from, but at 1stDibs, modern and mid-century modern paul soldner ceramics are of considerable interest. Paul soldner ceramics have been a part of the life’s work for many furniture makers, but those produced by Kazuko Matthews, Paul Soldner and Jun Kaneko are consistently popular.

Prices for paul soldner ceramics can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, paul soldner ceramics begin at $395 and can go as high as $22,000, while the average can fetch as much as $998.

After studying under Peter Voulkos at the Los Angeles County Art Institute, Denver native Paul Soldner (1921–2011) became a pottery professor there in the 1960s, when the revolutionary California Clay Movement took root.

Soldner pioneered American-style raku firing methods, experimental updates of the centuries-old Japanese process, which involve pulling red-hot sculptures out of the kiln to be bathed in smoke or dipped in cold water, resulting in beautifully frazzled glazes.

“These new firing and post-firing reduction methods often led to spontaneous, unpredictable and quite wonderful results,” says Greg Nielson, of Dwell Floor Five, in Studio City, California.

Soldner’s raku vases, for instance, with their charred surfaces, seem to smile humbly through the scars of their past adversity. 

Alongside the likes of Toshiko Takaezu, Soldner innovated chunky, funky ceramics in the mid-century and beyond. He is one Voulkos student at whom enthusiasts should take a serious look, advises dealer Jayson Lawfer.

The owner of The Nevica Project, a gallery with venues in Chicago and Kansas City, Lawfer explains that Soldner “was a master of raku and was credited with bringing the historic Asian technique to the U.S.” He adds that “Soldner used simple techniques of throwing pottery on the wheel, but to make his sculptural forms more interesting, he also pressed burlap into the clay and stepped on it to give it different textures."

Find Paul Soldner pottery for sale on 1stDibs.