Eben Gramer

Ceramic artist and sculptor

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I was fascinated with clay from childhood and by age fifteen I had a kick wheel of my own. It led to a five year apprenticeship with the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain, Denmark’s oldest design company. There, I had the privilege to work directly with many of the well known artists of the time and learned how they created large murals, statues and fountains and how their work was reproduced. Besides the practical side of the industry I had mandatory study and schooling in arts and chemistry. I completed my apprenticeship in 1951 and was immediately drafted to serve as a marine.

Eva and I met during the fall of 1955 and we were married four months later. Soon after, it was my good luck to be offered a pioneering job with “Dansk Design” to lead the startup production of the first ovenproof porcelain on the market, called “Flamestone”; it was an idea that set a trend for years to come. I made the original models and decided the methods of their production.

Our first son was born in Copenhagen and he was 1½ years old when we immigrated to Denver, Colorado. I chose to work with Real Estate as my profession, and after obtaining my broker’s license, I turned to development and custom home building; designing and constructing more than 250 homes in the foothills west of Denver. Eva and I worked side by side in our own business for over twenty five years and we loved every minute of it. Our second and third sons were born in Denver.

The 80’s recession put many businesses to a standstill, including ours. Thousands of vacant houses and empty buildings stood as a chilling testimony to that. All three of our sons had to leave Colorado to find jobs and we, ourselves, moved to San Diego where we for ten years managed both commercial and residential properties. In 1999 we finally moved to Redmond, Washington in order to be close to two of our sons and their families. Our third son and his family live in Kansas.

My childhood desires of playing with stoneware clay and creating ceramic art have become reality. I now spend full time in my studio, making sculptures and decorative items and I develop all my own glazes that give my work a finishing touch. I am an active member of both “Washington Potters Association” and the Seattle chapter of “Pacific Northwest Sculptors”.