Architects have their hands in the cookie jar

One of the most enduring icons of American kitchens is the cookie jar. A symbol of the warm and fuzzy home epitomized by Beaver's mom, June Cleaver, the covered container was meant to be filled with the family's favorite cookies. And for many of us, an old-fashioned cookie jar evokes childhood memories of Mom or Grandma in apron, turning out trays of wonderful-smelling treats.

Cookie jars may have gone into cupboards in favor of clutter-free countertops. Perhaps they've not been as pressed into service because working moms, dads and busy children don't have as much time to bake, but they remain a popular accessory for the kitchen, the kind of gift that regularly surfaces for new brides and first apartments.

Jack Markuse is adding another dimension. He sees cookie jars as sculpture. He invited eight internationally known architects to put their signature styles on one of America's most loved collectibles.

Markuse, the man behind designer teapots and Alessi Corp., which brought high contemporary design to the tabletop, launched a new company called Projects in 1994. The company's mandate is to produce nicely designed objects for the home, objects rooted in Americana. Mailboxes and weathervanes weren't wildly successful, but then Markuse started thinking about cookie jars.

"Apart from being a mainstay of Americana, the cookie jar, in a sense, is a building in miniature," Markuse says. "Who better to design one than an architect?"

Markuse drafted an impressive team: Michael Graves, Stanley Tigerman, Richard Gluckman, Cesar Pelli, Laurinda Spear, Antoine Predock, Richard Meier and Clodagh, each representing a wide range of design philosophies.

Pelli's design erupted in the familiar shape of a volcano, a grooved, flared ceramic base in magenta, spiraled with concentric black circles and a buttery yellow dometop.

Graves elected to design his cookie jar in the shape of a squarish blue palazzo with small steps leading to doorways. It features square indentations suggesting windows, very much in the Graves Postmodern style.

Tigerman typically answered with a whimsical take, the form of a big mama with a long yellow skirt, shoes the color of Good 'n' Plenties and a blue lid, whose cap becomes a waistband, extended arms and small cap for the head. Sam-Emma, as the cookie jar is named, was inspired by his mom and dad.

Spear's design was taken from one of her building projects, Innovative Technology. The white cube has a canted "roof" with an indented circle and pull.

Gluckman's Inside the White Cube looks like a giant salt or pepper shaker, and Meier's White Chocolate Chip resembles a bowl with a lid.

Clodagh's cookie jar is shaped like an ordinary bowl. Its top has a handle that says "Cookies." On its underside is the message, "Indulge." The ceramic bowl is the color of a brown paper bag, and the bottom portion is textured like a football (the designer's request), with a smooth border at the top. Clodagh's jar will be available at the end of the year.

The cookie jars average 10 inches tall (the volcano is the bulkiest, with a 12-inch base). The designer jars, which cost about $60, started showing up in department stores in July.

If Andy Warhol were still around, the artist surely would have bought the lot. He's the man responsible for a cookie jar collectible mania when his own collection was auctioned by Sotheby's in April 1987, two months after he died. Warhol, a flea-market aficionado, had snapped up 134 ceramic figural jars, everything from clowns and cats to fruits and veggies. Experts had estimated the lot at about $10,000, but the jars brought a surprising $240,350.

It wasn't until 1929, the beginning of the Depression, that cookie jars became common in American kitchens. The first ones were hardly fancy - they were simple glass jars with screw-on metal lids. But in the 1930s, stoneware became the material of choice, and dozens of pottery companies started turning out an array of colorful cylinders, some embellished with leaves or flowers, others in the shapes of figures, fruits, vegetables, animals and characters from nursery rhymes, comics, cartoons and later, TV and movies.

A handful of manufacturers was responsible for most cookie jars: Nelson McCoy (its first, Mammy With Cauliflower, was produced in 1939; production ceased in 1987); American Bisque (1930 to 1979, with Popeye, Olive Oyl, Casper and the Flintstones its stars); Brush Pottery (1946 to 1971, Davy Crockett, Squirrel on Log); Abingdon Pottery (1939 to 1950, Mother Goose characters); Shawnee (1940s to 1961, Smiley Pig, Puss 'n' Boots); Red Wing (closed in 1967, Bunches of Bananas) and Metlox (1927 to 1989, with Little Red Riding Hood the most coveted).

Collectors' biggest sweet tooth is for jars with crossover appeal. McCoy's yellow or aqua Mammy jar commands more than $1,300, and American Bisque's Fred or Wilma Flintstone sells for as much as $1,500 to $2,000. Metlox's Little Red Riding Hood will set you back as much as $900. But Red Wing's Bunch of Bananas is a bargain at $60 to $80.

New jars, available in department stores or home or cookware specialty shops, average $25 to $50, and range to $100.

As with any purchase for your home, buy what you like; don't look to invest. Whether you use your cookie jar for fresh-baked or store-bought confections, or simply appreciate its decorative value, your own children may discover, 20 or 30 years from now, that it's worth more than the cookies inside.