As you can see from this pic, I have accumulated rather a lot of Orzel. This blogpost is my attempt to make sense of it.
My heartfelt thanks to Cam and Bev Brown and to the late Chris Bown and family for the effort that they put into making sure we got this right.
THE ORZEL STORY
After many years collecting Orzel, I am still impressed by the sheer volume of product, the huge range of shapes and the beautiful subtle decorative glazes. At first glance much of Orzel’s output looks a bit heavy, but it sold like hotcakes. At the time, (1970s-1990s) fine china was out of fashion and rustic pottery was in demand. In New Zealand, hundreds of hand-potters were run off their feet, and commercial castware manufacturers were keen to cash in on the hand-made trend.
Rustic Orzel is in strong contrast to the Titian Ware previously made by the Brown family. In the 1950s-1960s, Cameron Snr and Dorothy Brown created finely made, carefully decorated vases and ornaments. Then, in 1964, Cam Snr and Dorothy sold shares in Titian Potteries to fund expansion. That plan backfired. By 1968 Crown Lynn had bought up more than 50% of the shares and announced a ‘partnership’ with Titian – in effect a takeover.
Cam and Dorothy remained at the Titian factory for about 18 months, but at the same time they began making pottery in their garage at home. Early orders included six thousand orange-glazed mugs for Paramount Trading Company and a range of Tulip brand bath salts containers.
Above: early bathroom products made in the family garage. The corked jar and matching beaker had their own distinctive mark on the base. A later version of this beaker had a small handle. (See the marks and stickers section at the end of this post).
Inevitably Crown Lynn discovered that the Browns were moonlighting, and they were asked to leave Titian. By then the new enterprise was well on its way and in 1972 Cameron and Dorothy Brown set up a factory at Firth St in Drury. Here, they mass-produced the ware which we commonly recognise as Orzel.
By this time Cam Snr and Dorothy’s son ‘young’ Cameron and his wife Beverley were actively involved in the family business. Cam Jnr managed the manufacturing side while Beverley ran the office. Later, younger brother Chris joined the team and concentrated on marketing – a big job in an expanding pottery.
During Orzel’s lifetime an estimated seven or eight million pieces were made and sold. At its height in the mid-1980s there were about 40 staff and Orzel sold to outlets throughout New Zealand, and even exported a few container-loads to Australia. Often, the Browns would start work before dawn and get home after dark. Staff too worked very long hours. The pressure was intense. Cam and Beverley remember the weekend after Cam’s much-loved mother Dorothy died. There was a deadline for a large order and the family had to keep working, with tears streaming.
Above: the Brown family in 1990 (photo from the Saturday Courier)
The Brown family traded mainly under the name Orzel, but also used the brands Adelaar and Aquila. Adelaar is derived from Dutch/German, while Aquila is Latin. All three brands were related to the Polish eagle. Cam Snr served in the Polish merchant navy during the Second World War and had great affection for Poland and its people.
The family tells me that there was no consistent system governing the marks on Orzel ware, or which pieces were marked with Aquila or Adelaar. Aquila is often seen on larger pieces such as the animals, but the brand was also used on beer steins and pub-style jugs. Through the years, Orzel Industries sometimes used stick-on labels, backstamps or impressed marks to identify their product. However much of its output is unmarked.
Above: 1980s Friar Tuck toby jug. The Sherwood Forest series of toby jugs made in the 1970s/1980s are all stamped with the Aquila brand. Cam Snr and Dorothy Brown made an earlier series of Robin Hood derived jugs at their little Sherwood Pottery in the 1950s. However the later Aquila jugs were newly modelled and much larger.
Above: Orzel products carrying the Adelaar brand. See the end of this post for a catalogue of marks and stamps.
At first the Brown family sold most of their product to wholesale distributors and the Deka chain stores. Later, through the mid to late 1980s, up to 80% of Orzel’s output went to The Warehouse retail chain. When the first trial order for kitchen cannisters came through the Browns were delighted, but soon orders from the 80-odd Warehouse stores were pouring relentlessly off the fax machine, day and night. Often the factory struggled to keep up, but despite the occasional hiccup The Warehouse proved an excellent outlet for five or six years. Bills were always paid on time and the Brown family was treated with respect and kindness.
Popular ranges included The Settlers Collection, Colonial Ware and terracotta kitchen containers glazed inside in clear, white, green or blue-purple. Sales to The Warehouse ended when terracotta waned in popularity and rising transport costs made delivery throughout New Zealand too expensive.
Above: First made for distributors Harrisons and Crosfield, the Settlers Collection ware was later sold through The Warehouse and other retailers. Similar style graphics were used on Colonial Ware. (Eg the lidded jar and salt and pepper at left). Transfers were made in-house, by Janine Brown and other staff. Janine still sometimes designs for the family business today. Other potteries, notably Kermiko, also made a Settlers Collection range.
Cam Brown Jnr and his father created most of the glazes, which were often in rich, dark colours. Cam and his staff were aways keen to try new combinations and techniques. In the early 1990s Cam was asked for a speckled glaze, and he collected a couple of buckets of black iron sand from Auckland’s Karioitahi Beach near Waiuku. The sand was incorporated into a pale creamy glaze, which was stirred vigorously and often to keep the sand in suspension. This very popular speckled glaze was called Old English.
Above: various products decorated with sand-laden speckled glazes.
After the Crown Lynn takeover, modeller and mould maker Hemara Hemara also left Titian and joined the Brown family’s fledgling Orzel Industries. Hemara had a long history with the Browns. He joined Titian Pottery in 1963, primarily as a mould maker. Later, at Orzel, he was also a prolific modeller. Generally speaking Cam Snr modelled the more detailed pieces such as toby jugs, and Hemara Hemara modelled kitchenware. Mould making was mainly Hemara’s job, assisted by his son Paul.
Hemara was largely self-taught, and his technique was very different from formally trained modellers, who create detailed drawings first. To model a new shape, Hemara would first make a smooth solid piece of plaster of paris, then use a tool like a large carpenter’s nail to carve it freehand. Usually a series of failures would be discarded as he got closer and closer to a shape he was happy with.
After several years, the Hemaras left Orzel to set up business for themselves. Other modellers, including Wayne Manion, also worked at Orzel.
Above: Orzel lattice ware modelled by Hemara Hemara. This was one of Orzel’s most successful ranges. There were lattice ware mugs, jugs, spice jars, lidded kitchen cannisters, salt pigs, coffee pots and salt and pepper sets.
For many years, Orzel ware was made with the family’s own white clay body. Then, recalls Cam, his brother Chis warned that the market for pottery made with white clay was waning, but he could sell any amount of red-clay terracotta ware. When it became only too obvious that Chris was right, Cam dug some red clay from the factory yard. Miraculously, this was the basis for a very successful terracotta clay body. Over the years the backyard clay pit grew larger and larger, and crept ever closer to a neighbouring factory. The neighbour complained to the authorities, which brought a swift order to stop digging. Fortunately, by then this was no great loss as terracotta ware was no longer in great demand.
Above: Orzel terracotta ware. These herb pots are in their original box. Branded Settlers Collection, they were sold through The Warehouse chain stores.
From the early 1970s and through the 1980s, Orzel made a satisfactory living for the Brown family and their employees. Sadly, in 1994 the matriarch Dorothy Brown died. By then business was waning and in the mid-1990s the Drury factory was sold. However the new owner was not successful and the family bought it back. Then Cam Jnr became very ill and spent weeks in hospital. The big factory was emptied and leased out, and Orzel Industries downsized to a smaller building close to the family home. When Cam’s health improved, the Browns continued making ceramics in a smaller way.
Today, Cameron Jnr and Beverley – assisted part-time by their son, also named Cameron – make kiwiana and ornamental pieces to sell at markets around the country. They use the brand Sherwood, the name used by Cameron Snr and Dorothy when they first started out in the 1950s.
MORE ABOUT ORZEL PRODUCTS
1. Domestic ware
Orzel made large amounts of household ware including kitchen jars, coffee sets and teapots, mugs, sugar pots, jugs, casseroles, ramekins, spice jars, salt and pepper sets, lamp bases and wine containers. Kitchen jars were lidded or corked. Orzel made very few plates, mainly because special machinery and techniques are needed to make flatware efficiently. Much of the domestic ware was glazed in rich browns, blues and greens, in keeping with the fashions of the time. There are a few jugs and kitchen cannisters in white, most decorated with floral transfers
Above: Coffee mugs were hugely popular. One researcher has counted 24 different Orzel mug shapes. Popular glazes included shiny brown Mahogany (far left) and greenish Sherwood (right).
Above: a set of Orzel kitchenware. The roped jar would have originally been corked. Far right are a salt pig (front) and an oil jar, both popular items in the 1970s.
2. Ornamental ware
Alongside sturdy kitchenware, Orzel made ornaments, ranging from bud vases to large animals. These were carefully made and skilfully decorated. Shapes came from a variety of sources. A few were Titian Potteries shapes, re-modelled in the Orzel factory, and others were designed after Orzel was established. A range of animals and other figures were adapted from American moulds found in Hobby Ceramics catalogues. At least one ornament, a large shell, is a replica of a Crown Lynn shape.
Above: some Orzel ornaments are finished in the white lustre glaze developed by Cam Brown Snr in the Titian Pottery days. This shell is a direct copy of a Crown Lynn shape.
Above: this range of small vases was one of Orzel’s consistently popular products. They were first made in the 1970s, and small runs in assorted glazes were made for a variety of clients right through until the 1990s. The vases have individual shape numbers impressed into the base.
Above: Orzel made a series of elegant ewers and vases decorated with Egyptian motifs, and another series featuring Lascaux prehistoric cave drawings. These were first made in the Titian era, and re-created at Orzel. The decorations were created by Cam Brown Snr. Image courtesy of Louise de Varga.
Above: Stylish Orzel Manhattan Ware was named by Dorothy Brown, who said the shapes reminded her of the Manhattan skyline. The range includes vases, an oil jug, bowls, a beaker, a tall bottle and a lamp base. Colour combinations were rich greens, browns and purples, and a honey-coloured glaze. Image courtesy Andrew Clifford
3. Commercial ware
For Orzel, commercial orders provided a reliable income. There were ceramic jars, bottles and various containers for manufacturers of food and other products. One customer commissioned their own ‘Abbeville’ containers for pickles and chutneys. Small mustard pots made for Eta Foods were a big seller in the mid to late 1970s; Cam Brown remembers making 60,000 of them for a single consignment. The pots were corked, and made in a wide variety of glazes. There were also thousands of Bic ballpoint pen holders in assorted glazes.
Above: Orzel containers. From left: blue and white Orchid bath salts bottle, (rear) Abbeville pickles and chutneys, Pruneax Au Porto jar, Nut Oata muesli. (Front) Eta mustard pots, Bostik (glue) jar and a Bic ballpoint pen holder.
4. The breweries – steins and more steins
In the 1970s and 1980s, Orzel’s most important commercial customers were the competing beer giants Lion and Dominion Breweries. Throughout New Zealand there were scores of busy hard-drinking sports clubs. In return for exclusive sales, the breweries gave clubs hundreds of free steins featuring the brewer’s logo. Many were given to members to take home. Thousands of steins were given or sold to New Zealand armed services clubs, and some even went to the Australian Football League (AFL). Cam Brown estimates that over the years Orzel made two or three hundred thousand steins in various sizes and shapes. Other potteries also made steins, but Orzel was the largest manufacturer by far.
In another huge deal Orzel supplied Cobb & Co, a chain of 37 family restaurants owned by Lion Breweries. Cobb & Co steins and jugs all had a nick in the base so that they didn’t pool water when they went through the dishwashers upside down. As well as jugs and steins, Cobb & Co commissioned tableware including pinkish-glazed lattice ware salad containers.
Above: Orzel beer steins and jug.
From 1979-1983/4 Orzel made Maori-themed crocks for Ti Toki liqueur. Through the decades these crocks have been made by many other potteries including Crown Lynn, Stewart Potteries, Kermiko and Bob Steiner. In the early 1980s Orzel made jars for Jim Beam whisky, and for a time also made bottles for Thames-based Totara Liqueurs. The liquor companies also commissioned promotional ware such as ashtrays for Johnnie Walker whisky and Seagers gin.
5. The Hobby Ceramics connection
During the 1980s, Chris Brown ran a very successful hobby ceramics business in the same factory as Orzel Industries. He imported most of his moulds from large suppliers in the United States. Using these same moulds, often with small adaptations, Cam and Beverley developed a successful range of well-made animals and other figures which they sold mainly under the Aquila brand. Thus, you may find a hobby ceramics piece and an almost identical figurine made by Orzel/Aquila. The Orzel/Aquila pieces can be differentiated from the hobby ceramics versions - they were made with heavier clay and skillfully painted, usually by Beverley Brown.
Above: a stag figurine adapted from a hobby ceramics mould. The base was modified to improve stability.
Above: This tiger, also derived from a Hobby Ceramics shape, was decorated by Beverley Brown
The range of pieces derived from Hobby Ceramics included an eagle, a pair of flamingos, an owl, a tiger, an Alsatian dog, and two reclining bloodhound dogs. The largest were about 50 cm tall. Other Orzel/Aquila ornaments that originated as Hobby Ceramics were smaller human figurines, a boy and girl in white glaze, garden ornaments, a stag, a pair of Thai-style heads, a spaniel, a planter with an owl in relief, even a swan in white lustre. Others carrying the Orzel or Aquila sticker include a seated horse, matador and bull figurines, Roman gladiators, a shark, a seal and a marlin, elephants, a rabbit, a cockatoo and a persian cat. It is quite likely that there are more Orzel/Aquila figures with the same origins.
As a separate range, Orzel made polar bears and penguins glazed in white lustre for the Auckland Zoo shop.
Above; these tall, fragile flamingos were derived from Hobby Ceramics moulds. They proved very popular and quite large numbers were made. Image courtesy Vanessa Jarlov
IDENTIFYING ORZEL, ADELAAR AND AQUILA
Most Orzel ware is unmarked. However some pieces were identified:
- a few items, notably Aquila, are backstamped. Orzel very seldom used backstamps – stamping was too time-consuming for a mass manufacturing business.
- Sometimes the mould carried words impressed into the finished item - Orzel and Adelaar are sometimes marked in this way.
- a few Orzel and Aquila pieces carry a stick-on label.
Importantly, the Orzel Industries team had a distinctive way of fettling. You can often see knife-marks on the base of the piece, where excess clay has been trimmed away when the still-damp pieces come out of the mould.
Orzel Adelaar and Aquila marks and stickers
Adelaar
Adelaar Craft Potteries
Adelaar Craft Potteries (circular)
Adelaar craft pottery colonial ware
Aquila (stamp). This also shows the Friar Tuck imprint from the Sherwood Forest series
Aquila Ceramics (sticker)
Aquila Fine China New Zealand (stamp) Image courtesy of (Andrea Aldern-Smith)
Aquila Hand Dec. (Images courtesy Andrea Aldern-Smith)
Aquila Hand Decorated
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Aquila New Zealand (impressed, hand lettered)
Aquila NZ. (Images courtesy Louise de Varga)
BIC (on ballpoint pen holder)
Hand crafted in New Zealand
Hemara Ware. These Irish coffee mugs were made for a Dominion Breweries promotion. It is not known why some were marked with Hemara's name.
New Zealand (diagonal)
Orzel (cursive)
Orzel (impressed with shape numbers and letters)
Orzel (impressed)
Orzel with star Image courtesy Andrea Aldern-Smith
Orzel (with shape number)
Orzel Industries (sticker)
Orzel Made in New Zealand (circular stamp) Image courtesy Miranda G
Orzel New Zealand (impressed)
Orzel New Zealand (on Rugby World ball)
Orzel Potteries Made in New Zealand
Shape number only (the same system was used on Manhattan ware)
Tulip image (for early bathroom products)
Unmarked (flat unglazed base)
Unmarked (glazed base) Note that there are many, many unmarked pieces of Orzel, with wide variations in glaze and foot shape.
Unmarked (raffia glued on base). This is seen on various NZ-made lamp bases.
Unmarked, unglazed base showing fettling knife marks. Many Orzel pieces show distinctive marks where they have been 'tidied up' with a fettling knife while still damp after they have come out of the mould.
ORZEL INDUSTRIES TIMELINE
The three Cameron Browns
The Brown family tree can be confusing because there are three Cameron Browns. Cam Senior and his wife Dorothy – both now deceased – are the parents of Cam Jnr. Cam Jnr and his wife Beverley have a son who is also named Cam.
From 1951-1968 the Brown family made pottery, mainly under various configurations of the Titian brand. Their Titian Pottery – at that stage based in Takanini - was bought out by Crown Lynn in 1968/1969.
1969 – the brand name Orzel was used for the first time when the Brown family began making pottery in their basement at home in Papakura.
1972 – The Brown family established Orzel Industries in Firth St in Drury
1978/79 – Chris Brown established his Hobby Ceramics business alongside Orzel. He also ran a kiln business, Eagle Kilns.
1980s – Settlers Collection range released
Mid-1980s – Orzel had about 40 staff. Peak production. Selling to The Warehouse chain and Deka.
1985/86 Chris Brown sold his Hobby Ceramics business
1994 Dorothy Brown died and the family attempted to sell the business. The sale fell through.
1997 Chris Brown left the family business and moved out of Auckland. Eagle Kilns and Hobby Ceramics had both faded by this time.
late 1990s Cam Jnr fell ill, the Drury factory was vacated and the family downsized to their home-based Sherwood Potteries.
2002 Cameron Brown Snr died
ENDS
Much of the information in this post has come from Gail Henry’s book “New Zealand Pottery, Commercial and Collectable” and from my interviews with Cameron Brown Jnr and his wife Beverley and the late Chris Brown.
Ev Williams has also made a major contribution, personally and through her New Zealand Pottery website.
