CINCINNATI -- Here in a German neighborhood called Over-the-Rhine, it's hard to say what's more fired up, the kilns at Rookwood Pottery Co. or the company's president, Christopher Rose.

When he bought the art pottery in 2005 with his brother, Patrick, Mr. Rose told him, "This company is a racehorse sitting in the chute waiting for the gate to open."

That's because the purchase included 3,700 original Rookwood molds, which represent about 500,000 hours of work by internationally known artists plus coded recipes for its vivid glazes.

Rookwood designs are evident throughout America, including a fireplace in the White House, the tilework in Grand Central Station and its famous Oyster Bar in Manhattan; and the Seelbach Hotel's Rathskellar in Louisville, Ky.

And it's available in the company's temporary showroom here where visitors can pick tile to be made for homes or commercial businesses.

A fast-talking father of four daughters, Mr. Rose is slowly rebuilding the brand by producing architectural tile, corporate commissions, holloware and cremation urns.

Founded as a pottery club for women in 1880 by heiress Maria Longworth Nichols, Rookwood won international acclaim as America's best art pottery. At its peak, the company employed 400 people.

Between 1900 and 1910, a piece of Rookwood would be sold for $50 to $150 at a time when the average blue-collar worker made $5 or $10 each week. Today, that Rookwood vase could be worth $10,000 to $50,000.

Rookwood vases, made in a variety of colors and styles, still command high prices, are prized by collectors and exhibited in major museums.

One celebrated artisan was Kataro Shirayamidani, who worked for the Emperor of Japan before he arrived in this Ohio River town in the 1880s. One of his black, iris-glazed vases made in 1900 sold for $350,750 in 2004, setting an auction record for a piece of American art pottery. It's now part of the Cincinnati Art Museum's permanent Rookwood collection.

Over the years there were financial problems and even a bankruptcy in 1967. When Mr. Rose and his brother bought the company in 2005, production was minimal.

For now, the company's revenues will come from production of architectural tile.

"Our goal is to open up a dealer in the Pittsburgh market by the end of the year. Now that we're back, people are clamoring for our tile. There's a huge call for restoration," Mr. Rose said during a private tour of the company's cavernous, 100,000-square-foot building.

Rookwood is awaiting the arrival of two kilns that allow potters to program temperature settings, cycles and the mode of firing for more consistent quality.

"We're taking our time getting back into art pottery. We don't know enough yet to honor the heritage of the art pottery that Rookwood created. We can do architectural tile at the same or better level than what the company did in the past."

The company has a high standard to uphold, said Anita Ellis, deputy curator of collections at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

At the Paris International Exposition in 1900, French judges awarded the grand prize to Rookwood. "They did portraiture when it was considered impossible to paint portraits on pottery," Ms. Ellis said.

In 1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Rookwood unveiled a matte vellum glaze.

"Matte glazes are opaque by nature. Rookwood created a matte glaze that you could see through. That's like creating cold fire or dry water. One critic said that American art pottery could go no further," she said.

Before making art pottery, Mr. Rose said, the company needs to do "a full market audit of where the brand is and where the brand can go again. The collectors are the people who have kept it here. They deserve to be a part of it."

Currently Rookwood, which employs 26 people, is producing 26,000 square feet of blue tile for a restoration project at the 16-story Monroe Building in downtown Chicago, its largest project to date. For the past six months, production potter Jon Williams, consulting notes made decades ago by Rookwood chemists, has mixed test batches of glaze. Through trial and error, he's found shades that will match the original Rookwood floor and wall tiles throughout the building.

Raw materials used now are more processed and do not include uranium oxide or lead, which were used frequently in the company's early days. They call it architectural tile or architectural faience because of its detail, structure and texture.

"We have close to 100 colors," said Mr. Rose, adding that tile is made with many materials -- alumina, calcium, feldspar, silica and titanium.

Rookwood offers four lines of vivid tile that could trim a fireplace, a kitchen backsplash or a bath. The Heritage Collection features traditional Rookwood designs with vellum glazes, shapes and forms that the company made until 1967. Timeless Beauty tile features new twists on old patterns. Modern Classics is a contemporary line of tile and there's also a custom masterpiece line of tile.

"Rookwood never had one particular style. They were capable of ... working with any style, from ancient Egyptian to art nouveau to Edwardian to Romanesque. They really leveraged the abilities of the individual artists."

The company also produces a line of greenware that is turned into beer steins for the Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. That company's president, Greg Hardman, recently announced plans to establish a new brewery just down the street from Rookwood.

How the Rose brothers acquired Rookwood demonstrates the value of sending a handwritten thank-you note.

Patrick Rose, a publisher who helped the Cincinnati Railroad Club produce three books, went searching for a set of Rookwood bookends that were replicas of Cincinnati's Railroad Terminal.

"He had seen these bookends many, many times before and said 'Wouldn't it be great if Rookwood could make these again?' " Christopher Rose said.

A railroad club member whose father had done legal work for Rookwood connected Patrick Rose to Arthur Townley, a Michigan dentist who collected Rookwood. He used his life savings to buy the company in 1982 and kept the pottery's trademarks alive by reproducing them on commemorative tiles, bookends, paperweights and small vases.

Dr. Townley told the Rose brothers he would not sell but to contact him again in three years. Patrick Rose sent a thank-you note. Three years later, he contacted Dr. Townley and this time the collector agreed to sell, partly because he was impressed by the letter.

Curator Ellis, author of several books on Rookwood, said Mr. Townley "spent a great deal of money to keep the copyright up to date -- tens of thousands of dollars. He was just trying to keep it alive.

"Rookwood never really went out of business," she said. "You can argue that it is coming back in a better way than before. They are concentrating on tiles."

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