Description Lidded Pot by Joe Sartori measures 18cm in height. There are small areas of damage on the knob of lid and on the ‘barnacles, false spouts, decorative bits… whatever you’d like to call them…’ parts of the pot. Apart from these areas no chips, cracks or damage. Joe Sartori was production manager at Studio Dybka Tichy in Parramatta, Sydney, NSW from 1972 – 1980. Rudolf Tichy had trained in Prague, Eastern Europe as a ceramic sculptor and worked in Czech porcelain factories as a head designer. He commissioned George Snape an industrial chemist at CESCO to produce several clays for different uses and imported a range of brightly coloured glazes from Germany, which is why this pot has a decidedly West German Pottery look about it. Snape the industrial chemist tried to develop similar glazes to the German versions in Australia, but succeeded only with reds and oranges, although they proved difficult to control during the firing process of the wares in the kiln. Under Sartori’s direction the studio produced murals, tiles and a range of distinctive, colourful, functional pottery. It was supplied to Grace Brothers & Walton’s department stores. The studio was taken over by Norbrick in 1980 and Sartori moved to Queensland, north of Brisbane. He set up his own pottery and continued to produce wares in a similar style. His signature is and incised or painted JS or J. Sartori on all wares.
