About Westerwald's founder...
If ever a potter deserved to be
called a Renaissance man it would be Phil Schaltenbrand. In his 63 years
Phil has written three books (most recent Big
Ware Turners) on early
Pennsylvania stoneware, published many articles on the subject for national
journals and lectured and demonstrated on the potters wheel. Schaltenbrand
also found time to excel as an accomplished amateur golfer. As a hobby
Schaltenbrand has also raised and bred animals such as llamas and miniature
donkeys. All this while founding and expanding Westerwald Pottery which
for 30 years has produced and shipped quality custom stoneware throughout the
world. Phil has designed pieces for the rich and famous - the DuPont
family, Arnold Palmer, Robert Mitchum, Hank Aaron, Sketch Henderson, and
President Bill Clinton - as well as for ordinary people like the woman in New
York state who took a piece of Westerwald ware into the delivery room each time
she gave birth (she stopped at four babies).
Phil was born at home in a small
town in central Pennsylvania during a brutal snow storm on February 4, 1942.
Since no doctor was available Phil was introduced to the world without
professional assistance - an experience that likely contributed to his
independent nature. In 1945 Phil's minister dad moved his family, that
included two brothers to upstate New York. In 1955 Reverend Schaltenbrand
moved the family again this time to southern Delaware. Phil was an
excellent student, graduating near the top of his class in 1959. A college
education and an art degree from Kutztown University followed and prepared
Schaltenbrand for a career as a public school art teacher. Phil would eventually
teach art classes for 33 years, the last 30 years as a professor at California
University of Pennsylvania.
Phil has been making pots since
1967 when he was introduced to ceramics at The Tyler School of Art of Temple
University which awarded him a Masters degree. For eight years
Schaltenbrand made unique one-of-a-kind pieces which were sold through galleries
and at art fairs. In 1968 Phil was hired to build a ceramics program at
California University of Pennsylvania. Personal research of early American
stoneware began shortly thereafter. Schaltenbrand's efforts yielded three
books - BIG POTS, STONEWARE OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, and
BIG WARE TURNERS.
In 1975 Schaltenbrand responded to
requests to make special ware pieces for the upcoming bicentennial (see
About Us). Since that date Schaltenbrand has
built his business into an annual million dollar plus operation that employed as
many as 30 workers in the mid 1990s. Today there are twenty skilled
operatives on payroll who annually produce about 85,000 pots, entirely by hand
for discriminating customers. In describing Westerwald today Schaltenbrand
says "we are lean and mean." The employees constitute a tight-knit team
that functions without a manager. Most have been with the company for more
than ten years, some for as long as twenty. A few were/are even former
students of Schaltenbrand's.
In 1997 Schaltenbrand left his
university job to devote more time to research and to the running of Westerwald
Pottery. Schaltenbrand plans to continue publishing but has no books in
the pipeline. The professor still lectures and continues to collect data
on early stoneware hoping to one day open a museum that will celebrate the early
manufacturers whose ware is so very collectible today.
In his spare time Schaltenbrand
finds time to golf recreationally and competitively. In 1999 Schaltenbrand
won the Pennsylvania Senior Golf Championship and has won his home club
championship seven times.
