Lenox was started in 1889 by its founder Walter Scott Lennox. Born in Trenton NJ in 1859, the main center of the American pottery industry at the time, Walter Lennox combined his interest in drawing and clay and began working at a pottery plant as a designer and decorator at age 16.
When he turned 22, he joined Ott & Brewer as their design director. Ott & Brewer finally closed a few years later and that’s when he decided it was time to strike out on his own.
Just seven years after taking over as design director, Walter Lennox was starting his own company, Lenox’s Ceramic Art Company, which opened in 1889. Walter created his ceramics as an art and even positioned his new company as a studio of art instead of a factory. Most of his early productions were one-of-a-kind made of ivory porcelain.
The Lenox China was originally manufactured with just 18 employees and consisted of a line of vases, pitchers and tea sets. As he had laid the foundations for his productions to be considered art, they were picked up by the most elite shops of the time. In 1897, even the Smithsonian Institution displayed a collection of Lennox China.
In the early 1900s, good home cooking became lazy and Lennox was quick to transition his company to handle the country’s new dinnerware needs. He began by offering complete sets of dinnerware to very exclusive families in early 1902, fighting European control over the fine china trade.
As American demand for Lennox China continued to grow, he changed the company name to Lenox Incorporated to reflect his change in philosophy from Ceramic Art Company to more of a mass production company.
The company’s first large-scale productions of Lennox China were produced in 1910 and were designed with transfer prints that were then colored by hand. In 1917, Lennox China switched to full color lithographic designs. The two original designs, Mandarin and Ming, were popular in the United States for more than 50 years. These decals made sure that every piece of dinnerware was decorated exactly the same and created a kind of trademark look. The hosts were excited to have the new patterns on their table that were easy to recognize so their guests would know they could afford Lennox China.
Lennox was becoming America’s must-have china. In 1918 the White House commissioned 1,700 pieces for official state services. Lennox China was the first American porcelain to be used in the White House and has remained so ever since.
Walter Scott Lennox dies in 1920 having been successful in his quest for the “perfection of American porcelain”.