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Designer Spotlight:
Irving Place Studio
According to daughter/partner Sabrina Judge...
Dora de Larios "gets her mojo flowing from the universe." Whether the medium is clay, pen and paper, metal, wood or concrete, her mother "gets energy back just doing what she loves to do – which is make beautiful work.”
Irving Place Studio's roots in Los Angeles date back six decades. Founded by Dora and Ellice Johnston in 1968, it quickly ascended to the forefront of the burgeoning LA Studio Pottery Movement. Students of noted ceramic artists Vivika and Otto Heino, IPS soon became home to a variety of artists bursting with creativity.
"All three of us were born and raised in Los Angeles. Dora is first generation Mexican American. Her mother walked to the United States from Durango in the late 1920’s. Her father arrived in the United States around the same time from Mexico City. We all feel connected to Los Angeles because our roots – family - are here."
Ms. de Larios goes to Washington.
In the 1970's, Dora was commissioned to make dinnerware for the White House's annual Senate Ladies Luncheon.
In praise of the result, First Lady Rosalyn Carter remarked -- in a way just as true then as it is now -- “What is so exciting to me is that the heritage of our crafts has not been lost under the weight and speed of advancing technology.”
Over thirty years later, Dora still makes sure of that.
Her ceramic sculptures were recently featured in three major exhibitions as part of the J. Paul Getty Museum 2011 show Pacific Standard Time, and she was also recently honored with a 50 year retrospective at the Craft and Folk Art Museum of Los Angeles.
Since 2012, IPS has been a collaboration between Dora, Sabrina, and son-in-law/husband Aaron Glascock. Sabrina sees it as "a natural evolution and extension of Dora’s work in ceramics over the past 56 years."
Together, their new mission is to design and make contemporary handmade ceramics of the highest quality for everyday use. "Our goal is to merge functionality with timeless beauty. We're carrying on the tradition of hand thrown pottery in California."
Proud to be part of the local movement since the beginning, every IPS piece is still handmade start to finish at their Los Angeles studio. For Dora, whose roots in the area extend beyond work as a longtime resident of nearby Culver City, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaking for her neighbors, neither would we.
