Peacocks and Dragons

By Louise Irvine “Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” was the mantra of William Morris, the British Arts & Crafts designer who revolutionized interiors during the Victorian era. He followed his own advice and worked with his wife,

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The Great WMODA Build Up

As we head into summer, we are already hot at WMODA! The museum team has been busy unpacking and rebuilding your favorite galleries and more. Our reference library of British ceramics now has a new home, and we are creating an Ardmore Design shop in the heart of the Hollywood

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Hoopoes at WMODA

By Louise Irvine The African hoopoe has been popping up on Ardmore designs for decades and flitted into our thoughts again as we reset the new Ardmore gallery in Hollywood. The bird was a star of the Camp Critters textile pattern and Savuti wallpaper design and interacts with monkeys and

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Bacchanalia

By Louise Irvine Wine has been made from grapes in Sicily since 4000 BC and the state of altered consciousness caused by drinking was considered a religious experience in ancient Greece and Rome. Dionysus was worshipped by the Greeks as the god of wine and he was identified as Bacchus

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Regency

By Louise Irvine The Georgian and Regency eras were periods of elegant refinement with fabulous fashions and décor made famous by Bridgerton, the popular historical romance on Netflix TV. Movies inspired by Jane Austen’s novels also conjure up the style and social life of the Regency period in the early

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Feelies

By Louise Irvine The first Artist Showcase exhibition at WMODA featured Rose Cabat’s porcelain “Feelies” to celebrate her 100th birthday on June 27th, 2014. At that time, Rose was the oldest practicing ceramic artist in America and she was still working at her potter’s wheel. She passed away in 2015

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Genius in Glass

By Louise Irvine Glass is one of the world's oldest materials created by humans and it has been used to make art for millennia. The ancient Egyptians made colored glass beads for jewelry and the Romans developed hollow molded glass vessels. Glass blowing was first practiced in the 1st century

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The Lion King

By Louise Irvine One of the most challenging works of art to relocate to the new WMODA in Hollywood was our monumental Royal Doulton terracotta lion. It was modeled by John Broad at the Lambeth Studio in 1904 and the clay sculpture was cut into two parts to be fired

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An Ardmore Love Affair

By Louise Irvine Arthur Wiener, the founder of WMODA, loves Ardmore Ceramic Art and has a vast collection at the museum which we are currently resetting. In recent years, he has also fallen in love with Ardmore Design and purchased sofas and love seats for the collection. We can’t wait

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Cleopatra

By Louise Irvine Ancient Egypt inspired the Art Deco Day celebration in Florida this year during the World Congress. Not surprisingly, there were many reincarnations of Egyptian pharaohs including Cleopatra and Tutankhamun. The discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 led to an Egyptomania craze during the Art Deco era.

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