CALIFORNIA POTTERY INDEX - VINTAGE CALIFORNIA POTTERY, DINNERWARE, CERAMICS, FIGURINES - INCLUDING BETTY LOU NICHOLS POTTERY

Betty Lou Nichols Pottery

Betty Lou Nichols first discovered pottery at Fullerton Junior College where she was an art major. When her husband joined the military in 1940, she moved in with her parents in La Habra and set up a small kiln in their backyard where she began to produce figural ceramics, which she decorated herself.
By 1947, Betty Lou Nichols moved to new headquarters in La Habra, California, where she employed 30 people producing distinctive decorative ceramics. Her hand-decorated head vases were the principal product and featured hand-applied details like ruffled bodices, hat bows, curly hairstyles and long eyelashes.
Betty Lou Nichols's distinctive designs could not be copyrighted, and in the 1950s the market was flooded with inferior Japanese imports. Betty Lou Nichols closed her pottery in November 1962, unable to compete with the lower-cost imports.

Betty Lou Nichols Pottery