Home Eben Gramer - Ceramic artist and sculptor

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 of working 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 in the navy. After that, I joined Bing & Grøndahl, another well known porcelain plant.

Eva and I were married 1955 in Copenhagen. 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 in 1958 immigrated to Denver, Colorado. After working for Coors Porcelain for a short period, I chose to work with Real Estate as my profession. 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 brought many businesses to a standstill, including ours. Thousands of vacant houses and empty buildings stood as a chilling testimony to that. All our sons had to leave Colorado to find jobs and we moved to San Diego where we for the next ten years managed both commercial and residential properties. In 1999 we moved to Washington to be close to two of our sons and their families. Our third son and his family live in Kansas.

I now spend full time in my studio, making sculptures and decorative items. I develop and make my own glazes to give my work the finishing touch and I am an active member of both the “Washington Clay Arts Association” and the “Seattle Sculptors Guild”.