Gordon Martz

(1924 - )

Jane Martz

(1929 - 2007)

Gordon and Jane Martz Gordon Martz met Jane Marshall in 1949 while both were students in the esteemed ceramics program at Alfred University. A year later the couple married. After graduating, the couple moved to Veedersberg Indiana to join the Marshall family pottery business. Marshall Studios was founded in 1922 by Jane's parents as a hand-painted lampshade production company. Business expanded, and the company eventually grew into producing hand-turned lamp bases and ceramic production.

With the addition of this young couple to the rosters of Marshall Studios, the company turned towards a contemporary modernist style.The success of Gordon and Jane's modernist vision was rewarded in 1953, when their clasic M101 lamp was featured in the "Good Design" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The couple received numerous recognitions for their work, which consisted mainly of stoneware lamps, dinnerware, tiles and housewares.

In 1962 Jane further added hand-made textiles of natural fibers to be used as lampshade covers the the marshall Studios line. This side of the business grew tremendously in 1966 when the company was granted registration to produce textiles and pillows by the Federal Trade Commission.

Gordon and Jane retired in 1989, and shortly thereafter Marshall Studios changed its name to Genesis Wood and Stoneware. In recent years, Gordon continued to produce studio pottery which Jane would decorate. Jane passed away in February 2007 at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.

Special thanks to Craig McCormick for providing the majority of these details. Much more information is available at his extraordinary website: Marshall Studios: A Resource for Collectors.