Cooper Hewitt says...
Frederick Hurten Rhead helped pioneer the design of mass-produced ceramic tableware for the home. He is best remembered for the colorful Fiesta line of tableware introduced by The Homer Laughlin China Company in 1936. Moderately priced and available in five bright durable glazes, the popular dinnerware introduced the concept of mixing and matching while also transforming the look of domestic interiors across America. His other designs for Homer Laughlin included kitchen accessories and Harlequin tableware.
A son of one of the leading pottery designers in England, Rhead immigrated to the U.S. in 1902, when the American art pottery movement was just beginning. He worked at several ceramics factories, including Roseville, where he was art director from 1904 to 1908. He also helped establish Jervis Pottery on Long Island and ran a pottery studio at Arequipa, a California sanatorium for women suffering from tuberculosis, where he experimented with glazes. From 1917 to 1927, Rhead was the director of research at American Encaustic Tiling Company in Zanesville, Ohio. He served as art director for Homer Laughlin from 1927 until his death in 1942.
