1924-1954

(activity)

"Despite its frequent changes in ownership and lack of a strong design strategy, Medalta Potteries was one of the most important commercial potters in Western Canada. Founded as the Medicine Hat Pottery Company in 1913, it was renamed Medalta Stoneware in 1916 and then reincorporated as Medalta Potteries in 1924. It witnessed its best years between 1929 and 1953, when it produced utility ware, artware and later hospitality ware. Much of the company’s success was due to the Briton Thomas Hulme, who established and ran the art department between 1929 and 1953. His emphasis on surface ornament allowed Medalta to have a large inventory (over two thousand artwares) without the constant expense of mould preparation. He supervised a staff of mostly women (twenty-eight at its peak) who executed the transfer printing, stencils and rubber stamping. Artware included figurines, vases, jardinieres, plaques and lamps. Hulme often copied American designs, but his best work experimented with glaze decoration. Medalta also produced more profitable lines of crockery, mixing bowls and premiums. In 1937 Ed Phillipson joined as plant manager and industrialized the company, introducing assembly-line techniques and replacing the beehive kilns with more efficient tunnel kilns. He also developed a patented machine that formed a cup and handle from a single piece of clay. Medalta sold hospitality ware in open stock (as opposed to sets) through Eaton’s catalogues or from its own catalogue, the final one published in 1947. With Canadian Pacific as a major client, Medalta thrived. However, a change in ownership and a costly renovation closed the company. It reopened several times under different names and ownership, including as Medalta Potteries, operated in Redcliffe. Between 1966 and 1986, it produced crocks and flowerpots, sometimes using the stamps from the original Medalta pottery, which creates considerable confusion for collectors."

Design in Canada (2004), p. 244-45

Medicine Hat, Albert, Canada