Learn About Brayton Laguna Pottery

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Dorland Brayton, an alumnus of Hollywood High School in Chicago Art Institute began his pottery in Laguna Beach California in 1927. His home pottery studio turned into a thriving business and is awarded the first Disney license to create figurines based on Disney characters. Brayton Laguna kept the license until 1941. During World War II, Brayton Laguna thrived as did many potters in the United States. The embargo, an imported goods from Europe and Japan help focused buyers on domestic artisans. Brayton Laguna hired Andy Anderson as his first out of house designer while working for Brayton Laguna in the 1950’s. Anderson designed the purple cow set which include in a bull, a cow, and a calf. Anderson took his inspiration for the set from Gelett Burgess first purple cow poem, purple cow, a reflections on a emetic beast whose quite remarkable at least. The poem was included on the cow, printed on a sticker and it goes like this. “I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one but I can tell anyhow, I rather see than be one”. Today, the most coveted piece from the collection is the bulls. For some reason, not as many of the bulls have survived as have the cows and calfs. A complete set that was painted by the same Brayton Laguna decorator is very impressive. Many pieces of the pottery appeared to be unmarked or have lost their original stickers. So the clue to discovering if it is Brayton Laguna is if you find the decorators initial written in pencil on the bottom of the piece. After the passing of Dorland Bryaton in 1968, the pottery closed and the factory buildings now houses the Laguna Art Center.


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