Fulper Pottery

The company that became Fulper Pottery was established in 1814 in Flemington, New Jersey by a young potter named Samuel Hill, who was originally from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Hill was a utilitarian potter and Hill Pottery produced drain pipes, storage crocks and jars from Flemington's red earthenware clay. When Hill died in 1858, pottery worker Abram (or Abraham) Fulper continued to operate Hill Pottery and began purchasing it from the Hill estate. By the 1860s, the operation was called Fulper Pottery. They produced an assortment of utilitarian earthenware, stoneware and tile products. Fulper's sons continued the pottery after his passing. Over the years, the company had several names, including Fulper Brothers or Fulper Brothers & Company. The potters continued to make utilitarian stoneware and household crockery and tile. In 1899, the company was incorporated as Fulper Pottery Company. The secretary and treasurer of the company was William Hill Fulper II, grandson of Abram, graduate of Princeton University, and veteran of the Spanish-American War. The company at that time produced stoneware household items, such as storage jars and Fire-Proof Cookware. The Germ-Proof Filter, invented and patented by Fulper, was the pottery’s most notable product at the turn of the century. Fulper's Germ-Proof Filters were frequently used in railroad stations, offices and schools throughout North America, South America and the West Indies to purify water and keep it cool.

William H. Fulper II was instrumental in Fulper Pottery's shift to become a manufacturer of art pottery. Fulper's first artware line was rather casual. Beginning about 1900, Fulper's master potter John Kunsman began making a variety of vases and jugs with simple solid-color glazes. Some of this artware was exhibited at the St. Louis world’s fair in Fulper’s display and won an honorable mention for design. William Fulper, seeing the home market shifting away from utilitarian stoneware vessels (lighter glass containers were gaining in popularity) reasoned that the growing interest in artful homes required new artful ceramic forms. Fulper sought to capitalize on this new furnishing trend by providing modern recreations of antique Chinese shapes and glazes. For the glazes, he contracted with Dr. Cullen Parmelee, head of the ceramics department at Rutgers University, to develop Chinese-inspired art glazes. Dr. Parmelee's glazes included a pink (Famille Rose), a Chinese Blue, a celadon (called Seladon), a red flambé, and a pale blue-grey called Claire de Lune. These glazes were the backbone of company artware line christened Vasekraft and introduced in 1909. However, several of Dr. Parmelee's glazes fired inconsistently in Fulper’s oxidizing kilns. In 1910, Fulper hired ceramic engineer Martin Stangl to develop new Vasekraft glazes and shapes. While the original Vasekraft line featured Asian-inspired shapes and glazes, Stangl's shapes tended toward the Arts & Crafts style, and his glazes were earthy and organic. Fulper Vasekraft products were sold throughout the United States in the most prestigious department stores, gift shops and jewelry stores. Throughout the teens, Fulper's Vasekraft line was recognized as an important American art pottery, and the pottery frequently participated in the many national and international exhibits that were current. Fulper Pottery won several important awards, including the Gold Medal of Honor at the Panama Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. During and after World War I, the company’s production was diversified. The Vasekraft line was renamed "Fulper Pottery Artware" and featured newly designed shapes based on English and Spanish Revival styles. The pottery also produced a line of highly successful porcelain dolls and doll heads for American toy manufacturers to replace German porcelain doll heads not available during war time.

In 1924, Martin Stangl became the company’s vice president, and production expanded to another factory in Flemington, where its newly developed Fulper Fayence art and dinnerware lines were produced. The Fulper Fayence dinnerware was America's first open stock solid-color dinnerware. This line ultimately became Stangl Pottery, and for many years was advertised as "Stangl Pottery, made by Fulper Pottery." Throughout the 1920s Fulper Pottery Artware continued to be produced at the original factory. By 1926, demand for the Stangl Pottery products had increased to the point that a third production facility was acquired in Trenton, New Jersey.

William Hill Fulper II died suddenly in 1928. The company continued to be run by Martin Stangl, who was named President. In September 1929, the original factory in Flemington burned, and all production was absorbed by the other two facilities. During the 1920s and 1930s, Fulper Pottery Artware was designed in Classical, Art Deco and Primitive styles. In 1935, production of that line ceased, and the small Flemington building where it had been made was used solely as a retail showroom for the company's ceramic products. After 1935, the company continued to be Fulper Pottery, but produced only Stangl Pottery.