Hyalyn Pottery is actually a bit of a new discovery for us. Part of it has to do with the fact that we don't come across it as much, probably since it was a southeast United States operation. We find the same is true with regional housewares and decor in our area of the west coast - we find TONS more California pottery around here than people do on the east coast.

In any case, the Hyalyn pottery produced some really nice examples of midcentury ceramic items over its near 30 years of operation. Eva Zeisel and Georges Briard both designed items at one time for the company. The pottery was started by H. Leslie and Frances Moody in North Carolina in 1946. Rather than try to rewrite the history of the pottery, we'd encourage people to read the Hyalyn article on the Wisconsin Pottery Association site for more information.

The Hyalyn blue vase shown above was part of their "Decorator" collection/line and was made in the 1960s. It came in various colors and shapes and all featured the same bumpy glaze and wavy lines.

Without a doubt, the most common items that we come across from Hyalyn are ashtrays. In the past, we've left them because they've been damaged, or they weren't very interesting. The geometric shaped ashtray shown above was an exception. This was part of the "Shibui" line and was made in the mid 1960s. It has the familiar cork board glued to the back that most Hyalyn ashtrays we've seen exhibit. The Hyalyn ink stamp was put directly on the cork.

We also came across this great dual Hyalyn candleholder plus bowl. We initially picked it up because we just liked the way it looked. However, trying to research it, we haven't been able to come up with much. There was rumor that a more famous designer may have worked on this one - Michael Lax or Georges Briard have been suggested. We have not been able to confirm any of the names, however, so for the time being this is going to have to remain another beautiful midmodern mystery.