LIFE pattern

5 colors:

SeaGreen (mimics Steubenville's Seafoam; is a teal gloss a bit transparent, not fully opaque); Desert Brown (gloss brown sort of like brewed coffee); Peach Blossom (Pale peachy pink-beige satin matte glaze.)  Previous three colors are unique to LIFE, not found on other patterns; Sierra Yellow (buttery yellow with faintest speckles, satin matte. This glaze is found on other lines besides LIFE); Cloud White (white with faint speckles, satin matte. This white is found on other lines besides LIFE.  Also, most brochures ephemera do not mention this white, and we suspect, therefore it had a more limited early production, indeed, I rarely see it.)

Officially introduced in 1952

This is the first line Stockton boy Charles "Ted" Scarpino was allowed to design and get credit for.  It is the first really strongly stylish line Laurel produces.  Ted sculpted some beautifully fluid forms for LIFE.  Notice how the handles flow seamlessly into the bodies, flaring in juncture to continue the line swooping along rims, (and improve comfort and strength).  He introduced novel concepts such as the notches (instead of pin holes) in the shakers, and the wings of first production butter with locking groves.  The angled handles of beverage pitcher, relish boat/occasional dish and large mugs are quite stylish yet practical and comfortable to use.  The themes of form are consistent; clearly the shakers, pitcher mug, reflect each other, and so on.  The fluid sun dial handle on the lid of casserole and on sugar and redesigned butter* are very sweet.  His very modern designs were original, his own, generally he did not copy Ben Seibal or Eva Ziesel or the other big designers making fluid modern forms, yet they were consistent with current trends.  This pattern really helped Laurel gain recognition and business.  Seibel was famous.  Scarpino was not. Both were talented sculptors and industry artists.

Several of the molds of LIFE were reused again to make several shapes in other lines later:   The Gravy reappears in Cerama-Stone 4-5 years later;  Molds for all the plates, saucer, round bowls of all sizes are recycled into Cerama-Stone, and California Contempo, (and later into Sylvan Multi-Stone).  These are the most significant reuses.  There are other less important examples: Cup 'bowls' redressed with new handle style wer produced, as well (at least some of the) serving bowls  were recycled into another gloss speckled line (of yet uncertain identification) and so on.

Laurel could not compare to such as Vernon Kilns or others of the "Big 5" potteries of California, with their sometimes rather large array of shapes patterns and molds;  hence the Dinnerware sets of Laurel, in comparison, tended to offer a minimum of shape choices.  Don't expect or look for a so many specialized shapes from Laurel Potteries.  There are relatively few shapes in LIFE.

This Line called LIFE is very delicate.  It chips and flecks glaze easily.  The clay and glaze recipes were yet not producing a really durable product, (not like say for example, Taylor Smith and Taylor, or Vernon Kilns, or others, who were).  It actually is on par with Steubenville's American Modern by Russel Wright re durability - both are fragile ware.  Frustrating to use, because of this.

I notice some folks confuse Laurel LIFE with American Modern, and sometimes notice sellers calling LIFE a Russel Wright product. Well, don't feel dumb; even in the fifties, there was reputedly at least one publication miscredited Russel Wright with the design of Laurel's LIFE. The teal Seagreen glaze is very close match to Steubenville's Seafoam glaze, and you might notice the cups and saucers are almost indistinguishable from Russel Wright's design (cups handles differ - but oddly Laurel has three slightly variant cups that mimic nearly identically the three slight variant cups of American Modern!) Anyway seller take note...a teal saucer and cup unmarked are easy to misidentify. Coup plates, too.

(Personal note: I expand my Seagreen Laurel LIFE set with addition of a few select Seafoam American Modern serving pieces and such as tabbed bowls.  Select shapes mix in well, look good on the table.)

American Modern enjoyed the most successful production of an american dinnerware of its' time.  Laurel may have intended on the similarity, we can speculate for our amusement.  Companies commonly made similar items, no big deal.  Laurel (Scarpino under direction to do so) later quite intentionally did copy both Bauer and Edith Heath (who took Laurel to court on it). SeagreenSeafoamLalala.

See a list of shapes in Appendix of M. Pratt's book. p 214.  I confirm here  this list of his, although I notice he does not mention there is a tid bit tray.  If any of you notice are other pieces please be kind enough to let either of us know. (None show in brochures we've observed.)

The Divided bowl is recycled mold seen in earlier line LIVING. and will be seen again in Seaside, Cerama-stone, California Contempo, Sylvan, and others (eg, a satellite company started by former Laurel employees  borrows mold and manufactures it glazed in gloss pink speckle - unmarked).  This bowl shape common enough, and loosely resembles those of other companies - if you have one unmarked the glaze will help you determin which pattern to assign it to. Shakers introduced groovy groove-slots. (shaker form will reappear in  c.1960 California Contempo, and c.1961 Sylvan Multi-Stone.)

 The lid in lower left corner fitsatop bowl in upper right.  (The glass tumbler is not related to Laurel.)  These pieces are all Peachblossom - so you can see I have not perfectly adjusted colors if you compare all Peachblossom photos, but this one is reasonably accurate. (So too is the one showing four colores of sugars.)

I will mention this: cups were restyled at least thrice, mostly note how much the sides are straight or curve in.  The foot charges size, too.  Also the saucer has a couple of variant well and foot sizes. This sort of this is common in many companies.  It can bother some collectors who are gleaning and  disparate pieces and attempting to assemble a neatly matched set to have... oh say... a small footed round sided teacup on small footed saucer and a straight sided cups with bigger foot and 2nd variant of saucer and so forth.  This is indeed trivia, but some certain sellers and some collectors would like to be aware of it, no?  (sooo... Sellers, you might photograph clearly profile of cups you sell.)

Okay again I remind some of y'all!  Laurel made a line called LIFE (aka California Life), and a very different line called Living (aka California Living).  Don't mix 'em up!

*Butter was redesigned, (as seen in photo), the early winged-lid butter is scarce, apparently (no photo of that).  And, although Scarpino clearly designed sundial handle to match those on sugar and casserole (actually lidded serving bowl), we might see a perverted handle stuck on oddly so it defies its' original intended configuration, and ends up looking like a little fallen flattened S wiggle finial, note this esp. on Sylvan Multi-stone butters using this recycled mold.  Oh well. This butter is also 'sort of recycled' in Cerama-Stone, but the sides are bulged out...almost like they inflated it abit.  :)