The Best Places for a Ginger Jar Lamp in Your Home

I’ve been working with Talavera Vazquez to turn their sleek, modern ginger jars into functional lighting for several years now. Stripes, zig zags, and intricate floral prints all make a great lamp, whether used as a table lamp or decorative accent. With the arrival of the new gray and yellow zig zag ginger jars, I’ve also been thinking these colors would make great lamps to join the others in my collection. It’s definitely a possibility – stay tuned for updates.

But no matter how much you might love a ceramic lamp, you need a place to put it. So where are good places to use a ginger jar lamp in your home? Here are three surefire winners:

1. Living Room: Use lighting as another décor element with ceramic lamps in graphic prints. A large ginger jar lamp (or two) look great on a shelf or console table, adding accent lighting and personality. Black and white chevrons make this ceramic lamp really stand out in a contemporary style living room while the blue and white floral print of this ginger jar lamp gives a softer touch that’s great for traditional decorating.
2. Office: Whether at a home office or your workplace, good lighting is essential in an office setting. Use a small ceramic lamp for a touch of color and light where you need it most at your desk. The playful burnt orange stripes of this small ginger jar lamp enliven, especially when paired with a stunning lampshade. For a more organic feel, try a small table lamp with leaves or other floral motifs, like this blue leaf lamp. The bonus for adding lamps and other personal touches to your office? You’ll be more comfortable and thus more productive at work.
3. Bedroom: A popular way to use ginger jar lamps is to have a pair flanking the bed. This is an equally great look for a master suite or guest room, pulling together your space with clear focal points. My personal favorite lamp for this pairing is the burnt orange ginger jar lamp with chevrons as it warms any space, though restful blue lamps would be another solid choice.
4. Places to not use ceramic lamps? I’d say kids’ rooms, where they might fall and break during active play, and bathrooms, where often a ginger jar lamp is too big to fit in easily with the rest of your décor.

Regardless of where you use your ceramic lamps, make sure to get the right shade. It should be large enough to balance the lamp body and cover the socket and switch from view. It pays to know what kind of fitting you need as well as choose a shade that compliments other lamps in your home. I’m always surprised at how easy it is to change a room’s look just by changing the shade on floor lamps and other lighting.

Where do you use ginger jar lamps in your home? Have any other lighting tips? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Read Full Post »

On Trend Design: Ginger Jar Lamps and Ginger Jars

As those of you who follow Emilia Ceramics on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest know, we’ve finally gotten in the new ginger jars (or tibores) from Talavera Vazquez! With new shapes and colors, I know that you’ll love these ginger jars and ginger jar lamps just as much as I do. Here’s a roundup of their fabulous designs.

Statement pieces: Whether it’s for a patio, porch, or the foot of a staircase, the extra large ginger jar is the perfect fit. The new extra large blue and white ginger jar joins the collection with a bold chevron pattern that’s striking and modern.

New colors: Our recent arrivals of ginger jars also feature new designs and colors: the gray and white ginger jar has a cool sophistication that feels subtle and subdued, while the yellow and white ginger jar is fun and fresh. Both of these chevron-patterned ginger jars look great on a shelf or end table.

You can also take off the top and turn any of these ginger jars into an oversized vase for even more functionality.

Small ginger jars: Sometimes you just need a small ginger jar to fit into your room design, providing the perfect accent. The new zig zag burnt orange and blue ginger jars join the striped burnt orange and black ginger jars, all with a contemporary twist on traditional Mexican design.

Ginger jar lamps: I’ve been working with Talavera Vazquez to create these functional ginger jar lamps for many years now. A large ginger jar lamp adds light and design to any space, and is easy to customize depending on the shade type you choose. I’ve got a particular fondness for the small ginger jar lamps as well. The stripes are playful and chic at the same time. This black and white small ginger jar lamp is an ideal accent for an office, side table, or even as a reading light. With more and more focus on lighting design that looks great as well as illuminates your home, ginger jar lamps are definitely a smart choice to make.

Read Full Post »

A Look at French Ceramics, Past and Present

Think you know French ceramics? Many people picture porcelain when they think about French ceramics, such as the famous Sèvres porcelain. Louis XV became the owner of this producer in 1759 and it was a major maker of French porcelain throughout the eighteenth century (according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Most of these early porcelains were imitations of pieces from Japan and China that only the very rich could afford, though there was plenty of French innovation once the new processes got traction. Because of a lack of essential materials to make a clay body that was the same as the Asian pieces, all of the French ceramics made before 1770 were soft paste porcelain, not hard paste. (For those that are wondering, soft paste porcelain requires a higher fire temperature and is much harder to form than the more plastic and malleable hard paste porcelain, which contains minerals like kaolin and quartz.)

Technical talk aside, these old French ceramics are certainly beautiful to see. If you’re in the LA area, an upcoming exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art will feature examples of porcelain from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France that have a whole range of style and function. What’s particularly interesting about this collection is that it also features faience, which is simply another name for tin-oxide glazed pottery… also known as majolica.

Flash forward to today where faience/majolica is still going strong in French ceramics. Sturdy, rustic, yet also refined, this ceramic tradition continues to grow with modern sensibilities while staying true to its roots.

Just look at the curves of the pitchers by Richard Esteban and Poterie Ravel. Simple and elegant, their rich glazes are enticing for hands and eyes alike. Compare a faience ewer circa 1700 (like the photo above) to Richard’s barn red milk pitcher – they have the same clean lines and visual appeal with tall, stately spouts.

Poterie Ravel’s fancy pitcher, stunning in mustard yellow or creamy ivory, also reflects shapes and function from the past that fits in with today’s aesthetics for French ceramics.

Then there are French ceramics like those by Patrice Voelkel and Sylvie Durez. Patrice does so much with colors like white or blue, creating pieces that are deceptively simple. His large serving dish has a delicate rim that exposes the black local clay of Provence, while the white irregular glaze gives it real character. Sylvie goes a completely different direction, treating her bowls, serving platters, and pitchers as canvases for playful animals, dreamy women, or pastel landscapes with a surreal feel.

No matter your style, the variety of French ceramics being made today are sure to be just as sought after in hundreds of years as those that were made in the 1700s. So which French ceramics suit you best?

French faience ewer image courtesy of Sean Pathasema/Birmingham Museum of Art.

Read Full Post »

Stay Tuned for New Ginger Jars Coming Soon!

Ginger jars are everywhere now and it’s not hard to see why. Called tibores in Mexico and sometimes referred to as urns in the U.S., these traditional ceramics are a stylish way to add visual interest to any space. The ginger jars by Talavera Vazquez are so popular that I’m often afraid of running out of stock. With the graphic stripes and zig zag chevrons, these are definitely pieces that look good in a variety of spaces.

Emilia Ceramics ginger jars are so popular, in fact, that I’m working with Talavera Vazquez to introduce some new colors (coming soon to the website). Look for neutral tones like gray and yellow zig-zags to join the existing cobalt blue, black, and burnt orange. I cannot wait to see the new ginger jars myself, let alone offer them to my customers in a wider color range.

Talking with the artists, I was reminded of when we began to work together to make the ginger jar table lamps. These bold ceramics are extremely popular and I think it’s because ginger jar table lamps combine style with function in an original way.

One of my favorite things about these pieces are how customizable they are. A blue and white ceramic lamp takes on a new look when paired with a large blue or small white shade (or anything in between). The shade brings personal style to the ceramic and makes for a truly personal statement.

The different patterns on these ginger jar lamps also create a variety of effects. The striking chevrons of this blue and white ginger jar lamp are bold and eye-catching. The blue and white striped ceramic lamp makes a softer graphic statement while smaller blue and white ginger jar lamp features organic motifs and a playful feel. Same color combination, three totally different blue and white ginger jar lamps that all bring sophistication to your home.

I love all the flexibility and fun that ginger jars and ginger jar lamps represent, whether it’s flanking a staircase, acting as a bedside lamp, or making a statement on the patio. So here’s to the new Vazquez ginger jar collection… coming soon!

Read Full Post »