Artifact Profile: Delano 'Plates'

Delano 'Plates'

Delano Studios (Setauket, New York)

Decalcomania on Ceramic

ca. 1946-1989 Delano Studios (1946-1989) was a manufacturer of decorated ceramics in Setauket, NY. The Studio was founded in 1946 by Richard Delano of Setauket, nephew of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The company was in continuous operation under his ownership, as well as Ward C. Campbell, until Feb. 1989 when it was purchased by Low Country Guild and moved to Bluffton, South Carolina. East Asian manufacturing outcompeted the Studio and it subsequently closed its doors on September 23rd,1993. Mr. Lawrence Schliessmann, Jr., who began working for the company in 1980, purchased the company in Nov. 1998 “to preserve the decades of history within its archives”.

Mr. Delano revolutionized the ceramic industry by perfecting an already common ceramic transfer print process called “decalcomania”, by producing special lacquers and glue that inhibit “burnouts or sizzling out” in the finished product at a 97% success rate. The prints used for Delano ceramics came from a variety of sources such as Currier and Ives, Audubon, and other artists such as local resident Lawrence Smith Hudson. Mr. Delano also used original photograph made into lithographs to create many of the images.

Photographs of local subjects and landscapes were taken with a studio camera, the negative run through a lithograph machine, and then reproduced on a zinc plate. The zinc plate was then attached to a “ceramic dusting” machine of Delano’s own invention. A long roll of gummed paper is fed into the machine and the design adheres to it in ceramic dust (pulverized glass oxidized with iron and lead to produce different colors). The decalcomanias, still unfinished, are then covered in a thin layer of lacquer and the ceramic dust design is sandwiched between paper and glue on one side and lacquer on the other. Then the entire decalcomania is submerged in luke warm water, the glued dissolves, the design carefully slid off (intact in its binding of lacquer) and placed by hand on a blank piece of porcelain or pottery, sponged, and allowed to dry.

As an WW2-era inventor, Delano also gained notoriety with his invention “Sunstill”, a method for converting salt water into fresh water that was used by shipwrecks sailors and pilots who were forced to bail in maritime environments.

As for the Delano house/studio, it originally stood on Rte. 25A and had been used by Delano Studios for the production of decorative ceramics. There was a one-story addition (summer kitchen) which served as the kiln room (this addition was demolished when the building was moved in 1962).

With the extension and reorientation of Route 25A, between Bennetts Rd. and Ridgeway Ave., the house was in danger of being demolished. It was purchased by Robert Bryant for $500, lifted up in January 1962, and moved at the end of June or early July of that year, from 25A to its current location (at 15 Bennetts Road) at a cost of $10,000. It was pulled up the hill by a tractor, sliding along rails. It was relocated to that site because you couldn’t go down Bennetts Rd. due to the Railroad overpass and didn’t have to deal with the electrical wires etc. on 25A.

Robert Bryant added a two-story addition to the rear of the house when it was moved in 1962 to stabilize the structure. In 1970 he built an addition to the north side of the building (before being moved this is where the one-story summer kitchen was located). There was a kiln located in the basement. A new concrete block “Delano Studios” building was built to replace the manufacturing operations that originally took place in the house.

The Three Village Historical Society are stewards of approximately 240 pieces of original pen and ink artwork by Lawrence Smith Hudson, a former artist for Delano Studios and local resident. The artwork dates from ca. 1946-1986. The donation, by former employee and later owner, Lawrence Schliessmann, Jr., was given “as a memorial to the employees of Delano Studios and in memory of Lawrence Smith Hudson”. Other archival materials from Delano Studios include catalogues, fliers, sales materials, invoices, correspondence, proof sheets, photographs, several products, and a ledger.

Written by Scott Ferrara Collections and Exhibitions Coordinator Three Village Historical Society and Museum