| Herta Gerz (1913-2005) was born in Germany. In 1952, Herta and her husband, Walter came to Vancouver. In 1955, they established a pottery which produced a wide range of colourful ceramics until 1967. They worked largely under the name of B.C. Ceramics where they had another partner. The pottery was in the Yaletown section of Vancouver. |
Herta and Walter had a division of labour. Walter was a ceramic engineer and he looked after the technical areas - glazes, equipment. Herta was a potter and she trained their staff and created the designs. Their work was sold by Eaton’s, Birks. |
The pieces are slip cast or jiggered. The designs were mainly from the local flora such as the dogwood design below. They also did some West Coast Native designs and a Wildlife Series with walnut bases.
Shown below are a few of the marks that you will encounter. The number indicated the mould shape.
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The dogwood piece mark is painted in the glaze. |
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The brown vase mark has been scratched through the glaze before firing. |
The word “Vancouver” has been in the mould. |
The pottery was sold to Sunburst Ceramics in Lethbridge in 1967. There are also a variety of paper labels i.e. B.C. Ceramics
Items such as these, and thousands of other pottery pieces are available at the Waterford Antique Market.