ROGIER VANDEWEGHE ‘BIRDS IN FLIGHT’ WALL TILE FOR AMPHORA (BELGIUM)

A wall tile depicting three birds in flight on a dark purple ground, designed by Rogier Vandeweghe for the Amphora pottery company of Sint Andries, Belgium. AMPHORA was established under the name Atelier Rogier Vandeweghe in 1955 in Sint-Andries, a suburb of Bruges, by Vandeweghe and his wife ' to produce ceramics and stained glass. Starting modestly with two employees, namely a glazier and a handyman, the studio grew into a company with a staff of about 20. It was rechristened AMPHORA in 1960. Ceramic production consisted entirely of hand-thrown vessels. AMPHORA's modern forms, experimental firing techniques, and extremely subtle glazes—all developed in-house—rapidly earned it an international reputation. Participation in major contemporary exhibitions led to numerous awards: second prize at the Concorso Internazionale della Ceramica in Monza, Italy, in 1960; a prize at the Internationale Handwerkmesse in Munich in 1963; the 'Medaglia d'Oro della Presidenza del Senato' at the Concorso