The Glass Cone_No.105 May 2014

The Glass Cone

ISSUE NO.105

MAY 2014

Contents
1

The Glories and the Geniuses of Stourbridge Glass:

1612-2012

7 Glassmaking in Hungary. Part 2: The Age of Enlightenment and
Commerce

12 A Visit to the Higgins in Bedford

15 The Attraction of Imperfection. Global creative uses for recycled
glass. Part 2: Studio artists

19 The Designs of John Luxton
22 Buy — Keep — Sell. An insight into the world of a professional
auctioneer and savvy glass collector

23 British Royal Commemorative Paperweights, part 2

27 Members News
including ‘A few memories of the early days with Harvey Littleton’

28 What’s on.
Your guide to exhibitions and other events

Chairman’s message

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION

Issue No: 105 — May 2014

Editor: John Keightley [email protected]

Editorial Board
Brian Clarke, Gaby Marcon, Bob Wilcock

Address for
Glass Cone
correspondence

E-mail [email protected]
or mail to Glass, 4 Seven Acres, Worcester WR4 OJD

E-mail news & events to [email protected]

Articles and news items are welcome at any time,
but please bear in mind the copy dates if you have

an event you would like to be publicised.

The opinions expressed in the
Glass Cone

are those

of the contributors. The aim of the Editorial Board is to
cover a range of interests, ideas and opinions, which

are not necessarily their own. The decision of the

Editorial Board is final.

Copy dates
Spring: 15 February — publication 1 May

Summer: 15 June — publication 1 September

Winter: 1 October — publication 1 January

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Please contact [email protected]

Design by Malcolm Preskett

Printed in the UK by Micropress Printers Ltd

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Published by The Glass Association
ISSN No.0265 9654

The Glass Association
Registered as a Charity No.326602
Website:
www.glassassociation.org.uk

Life President:
Charles Hajdamach

[email protected]

Chairman:
Dr Brian Clarke:

chair©glassassociation.org.uk

Hon. Secretary:
Judith Gower

[email protected]

Membership Secretary
Pauline Wimpory,150 Braemar Road, Sutton Coldfield,

West Midlands, B73 6L2
[email protected]

Committee
Nigel Benson; Paul Bishop (Vice-Chairman); Christina

Glover; Alan Gower; Mark Hill; Jordana Learmonth;

Gaby Marcon; John Keightley; Kari Moodie;
Malcolm Preskett; Rebecca Wallis; Bob Wilcock;

Maurice Wimpory (Treasurer)

Membership and subscriptions
Individual: £25. Joint: £35. Student with NUS card: £15.

Institutions: UK £45. Overseas £35. Overseas

Institutions £55. Life: £350. Subscriptions due on
1 August (if joining May—July, subscriptions valid until

31 July, the following year)

Cover illustrations
Front:
An art panel created using fragments of

recycled glass—see page 15.

Back:
The three decanters, in clear glass with

black feet or stoppers, were designed by Keith
Murray for Stevens and Williams in the 1930s.

Each decanter has the acid etch makers mark
Keith Murray for Stevens &Williams’ with Keith’s

name copied from a script version.
FOLLOWING rain and floods in the early part

of this year, affecting us all, it’s a pleasure to
present issue 105 of
The Glass Cone,

with the

sun shining on our collecting travels to

exhibitions and meetings.
Our year began with financial help in

purchasing Whitefriars moulds at the Fieldings

Centuries of Glass auction on 8 March. These
have been presented to BHGM. 5 April was a
continuation of our events at Quarley with the

Georgian Glassmakers, called ‘Let’s Twist
again’, the success of these meetings has

again extended to another day, which will
be on 15 November. The Coburg Prize for
Contemporary Glass was held in April and a
trip to Coburg is being arranged from 27 to 29
June to view the 177 works of art that were

entered; Sven Hauschke, the director of

modern glass at Coburg has agreed to guide
us on the visit. The trip to Cardiff for the

Marinot exhibition will now be in spring 2015
and the trip to Catalunya, staying in Barcelona

will be organised for spring 2016.
Please do take a regular look at our website

– http://www.glassassociation.org.uk – to keep

up to date with event information, glass

news, confirmed meeting dates and Booking
Forms. If you’ve some glass photos, items of

interest or glass queries – you can always
present them on the website with your ‘blog’.

If you encounter any difficulties, then please
email

our
webmaster, Maurice Wimpory,

who’ll be able to guide you through: his email

is: [email protected]

Issue 10 of
The Glass Association Journal

is going ahead to be published this autumn.
One of the articles, written by Charles

Hajdamach and Judith Vincent is on the
glass of Mrs Graydon Stannus, and will be
presenting the Complete Catalogue of ‘Gray-

Stan’ Glass; this will be of great interest to
many collectors, especially when combined
with the exhibition of Gray-Stan glass at

Broadfield House Glass Museum. Our AGM
will be in Kingswinford this year at the end of

September and BHGM will be open for the

exhibition.
I’m happy to say that the discussions

between the Glass Circle (GC) and ourselves

in joining our societies together have moved

forward. The GC have commenced making
their London meetings fee paying and the

requirements and timing of what would be

a single membership subscription for what

is at the moment two societies, has been
clarified. Our committee meeting at the

beginning of June will be able to confirm the

results of our talks to create a strong single
organisation, the GC and ourselves can then
move on to request a vote from both of our

memberships.
Brian Clarke

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

The Glories and the Geniuses

of Stourbridge Glass
1612-2012

Opaque twist
wineglasses and

firing glass of the

type that various

18th-century

travellers

commented on

seeing made when

passing through

Stourbridge.

Former Royal Brierley

Museum Collection

A report of a lecture on 400

years of glassmaking given at

The Ruskin Glass Centre,
Amblecote, Stourbridge,

West Midlands; on 19 October

2013 as part of The Glass

Association’s Stourbridge

Glass – Past and Present’

Annual General Meeting.

Living glass history

THE Glass Association was born in
1983 when about ninety people from
around the country met at Stourbridge

College of Art on Guy Fawkes Day. Our

Life President, Charles Hajdamach,
internationally recognised authority on

many aspects of glass, author of

seminal books on 19th- and 20th-
century British glass, and past curator

of Broadfield House Glass Museum,
was a founder member. He lives in

Glassmakers Cottage, Amblecote,
with the remains of a furnace in his

garden, and walks the same streets as

his heroes. There could be no more
appropriate venue or more qualified
lecturer to celebrate 400 years of
world-famous glassmaking, and 30

years of the Association. This report

is a summary of the salient highlights
of a masterful presentation, delivered
with his familiar humour, insight and

affection for all those workers who

make Stourbridge glass special.
Although the glass from the area has

always been referred to as ‘Stour-
bridge Glass’ it is ironic that no glass

was ever made in the town itself.

During the four centuries under dis-

cussion, the glassworks were situated

in the parishes around the periphery of

the town as well as in Brierley Hill and

Dudley. By 1720 Stourbridge was a
Roger Ersser

busy market town acting as the focal

point of the area. Every trade used the

town’s new banks whose bills were

headed `Stourbridge’, hence the name
‘Stourbridge Glass’ became the

accepted generic title on the letter-

heads of the glasshouses and thus the
`super brand’ was established.

In the beginning
FROM the late 16th century,
glassmakers, many being French

refugees from Lorraine, were attracted
to the West Midlands. The clay was
suitable for furnaces and later, after

Lord Dudley’s experiments on his
estates at Himley near Dudley, there

was coal to fuel them. The certainty

of a regular fuel supply ended the

centuries-old tradition of peripatetic

glassmakers and a new era was
established in English glass. Paul

Tyzack built the first recorded glass-
house in the area and he is now
acknowledged as the lather’ of the

Stourbridge glass industry. In 1612 he
baptised his first son at St Mary’s

Church, Kingswinford, and in the
following decades, his family, along
with other French groups such as the

Henzeys and Titterys, was making
bottles and broad glass in the area.

Their repertoire expanded during the
century, but surviving examples from

that era are impossible to attribute
with certainty. The tradition of family
dynasties which they established con-

tinued throughout the 400-year history

of Stourbridge glass with the last family
connection ending at the end of the

20th century when Stevens and Williams
closed its doors in 2007.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

Regency cut glass

celery vase

engraved with
the coat of arms

of theEarls of
Dudley. Probably

Thomas Hawkes

glass works,
Dudley, c.1825-33.

Broadfield House

Glass Museum

The 18th century

FOLLOWING the invention of lead
glass by George Ravenscroft in

London in the 1670s, many Stour-

bridge glassworks, in common with
other centres, redirected production
with the demand for this new clear

glass. Tableware of every description

became the staple product of the area

including a great variety of drinking
glasses. None of their products can

now be identified with certainty as
they fall into the various categories of

Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classical

styles which every other glassworks in

the country was producing. But many

novelists and diarists travelled through
the districts and often commentated
on the glasses they had seen being

made. One anonymous author writing
in 1776 was especially fascinated by

the wineglasses with opaque twist
stems. The only group of glass which
can be identified from the area of

South Staffordshire are the opaque
white vases, candlesticks and bowls
enamelled with chinoiserie figures and
decoration which date to the 1760s.

It was, however, the ease with which
lead glass yielded to engraving and
cutting which would ultimately

establish the region’s global reputation.

In the 1790s two glasscutters from
Dudley and Stourbridge harnessed

the new technology of steam power to

drive their cutting lathes and intricate

cut glass was born. Regency cut glass

became associated with being a
hallmark for affluence and importance
and many of the large services were
created for nobility and landed gentry

as well as royalty. Cut glass was to
continue as a major feature of

Stourbridge glass for the next two
centuries.

The 19th-century dynasties

THE industrialisation of production
necessary to feed Britain’s expansion

of global trade, increasing affluence

and growing Empire during the 19th

century, spawned a succession of

family-led, inventive glass factories
with international reputations. There
were continuous dynamic changes in

factory ownership, location, products

and personnel throughout this century,
which continued into the next, fuelled

by a spectacular boom in trade.
Notable powerhouses were run by the
Richardsons, Webbs, Stevens and

Williams and Stuarts.
They devised methods of economic

volume production using mechanical
devices to supplement traditional

glassblowing, cutting and decorating.

They established a School of Art
and trained a multi-skilled workforce
capable of realising the most complex

of designs. This made cut-glass

tableware, lighting elements and
decorative glass affordable to the

emerging professional classes. They

attracted artists and artisans from
other centres and their workers left to
set up factories abroad. To keep pace
with local, national and international

rivalry, they continually introduced new
styles and responded to international

trends. They expanded the range of
colours available and excelled in
da77ling unique exhibition pieces and

virtuoso bespoke items, and estab-

lished a reputation for art glass. Smaller

glassworks often concentrated on

specific techniques such as cutting or

enamelling, while independent artisans
bought blanks for embellishing with

cut designs in their sheds in the

back garden.
Originality, flair, style and

workmanship

THIS phenomenal success resulted
from the practical transformation of
artistic genius into consistent, high
quality articles. The roles of the
designer, artisan and production

worker were of equal importance.

The complexity of the processes
increased with time. For example in
the 1840s, Richardsons, in addition to
glassblowing and engraving, were

improving moulding and were making

enamelled white glass that resembled

porcelain. By 1860 they were devising

methods for acid etching and later
produced cameo glass.
The rivalry between local factories,

other national centres and especially

the international producers of Central
Europe and France, encouraged

the internal development of new

textures and patented techniques

and the assimilation of competitors’
processes. Opaque, opalescent,

iridescent, speckled, Burmese and

many other types of coloured glasses
were introduced. Glass threading,

trailing and other types of decoration
could be applied (mechanically) to

the surface. This complex multi-

technique explosion and exuberance
of styles peaked when coloured,
cut, etched, trailed and enamelled

elements were combined in art

nouveau pieces. Stevens and Williams
were particularly successful in this

style with coloured intaglio pieces
designed by Frederick Carder and

carved by Joshua Hodgetts; Jules
Barbe’s enamelled work for Thomas

Webb was significant as was the
peacock trailing of Stuart’s vessels.
Similar products were available
from other British and particularly

Bohemian, Austrian, Bavarian and
French glassworks. A further overlap

resulted from the emigration of two
of Stourbridge’s outstanding talents

to the USA. Harry Northwood left

his glass-working family in 1881 for
a successful career with the fledgling
Ohio glass companies.
After years of collaboration with

John Northwood, and designing

many brilliant art nouveau pieces
for Stevens and Williams, Frederick

Carder left in 1903 to run Steuben

Glass and even greater international

recognition.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

Engraving, cutting, intaglio and cameo techniques

STOURBRIDGE cut and engraved patterns on lead
crystal glassware are universally recognisable and have

been desirable for over 200 years. During that time its

makers and designers have been responsible for
advancing and popularising a variety of sophisticated

techniques and creating unique pieces of historic
significance.
Thick-walled vessels, deep cut, copper wheel

engraved, and then polished to resemble natural rock
crystal became popular in the latter part of the 19th

century. Bohemian
émigré,
William Fritsche, who intro-

duced the style at Thomas Webb and Sons, was a

maestro of the technique and completed his baroque

masterpiece in 1886 — an ewer showing the life of a river
from source to sea.
Cameo glass, involving the cup-casing method of

fusing two or more layers of different coloured glass
and then carving, etching or removing parts of layers to

reveal the contrasting colours, was the greatest single
contribution that Stourbridge glassmakers have made

to the history of world glass. Intaglio decoration of a
high standard was available from many glassworks

and ancient cameo glass techniques were revived and

perfected when the long pioneering experiments of
John Northwood, in his quest to reproduce the famous

Roman cameo, the ‘Portland Vase’, were successful in
1876. This led to the creation in the area of some of the

most important cameo glass ever seen. Pieces were

made which would influence the work of Emile Galle
and other international artists whose work was in turn

re-interpreted by Stourbridge factories.
The arch magician of the technique was George

Woodall who led a Renaissance-styled workshop team,
which included his talented brother Thomas, at Thomas

Webb’s at the turn of the 20th century. He is recognised
as the greatest cameo carver of the period, if not of

all time, and his plaque ‘Moorish Bathers’ (1898) is
considered one of the best ever — his masterpiece. He

continued to make significant pieces until his death in

1925. In May 2013 the brothers’ plaque ‘The Attack’

(1896) was sold at Bonhams for a world record
£140,000 plus buyer’s commission.

Responding to 20th-century global challenges

IN the early decades of the 20th century, in common
with their British rivals, Stourbridge factories still found

a profitable market for their traditional handmade

products. Desirable, prestige cameo glass was

produced by Webb and Stevens and Williams, for

example, but modelling with acid and sandblasting was

replacing hand carving. Continuous rationalisation of

Left:• Art Nouveau vase

cased in ruby over citron

and intaglio carved
with irises.

Carder at Stevens &

Williams 1901.

Ht 12in.
Broadfield House

Glass Museum

Right.• ‘Rock crystal’

decanter engraved by
William Fritsche

at Thomas Webb &
Sons,1897. Ht

Broadfield House

Glass Museum

THE GLASS CONE
NO.105 MAY 2014

facilities, mechanisation and other

cost-cutting

measures

were

imperative for economic volume

manufacturing (from the 1940s

onward), in the face of competition,

first from Central Europe and latterly

from the Far East (where present
brand-owning companies now usually

source production).
The challenge of changes in popular

fashion, and the emergence of new
ground-breaking glass centres such as
Scandinavia, has been met with the
innovative response expected from a
workforce with a long creative tradition.

Commercial implementation, however,

has occasionally been ponderous
when faced with ever more rapid shifts

in consumer taste since the 1940s.
The art deco period of the 1920s

and 30s was a particularly imaginative

time for designers. Under the initial
guidance of Ludwig Kny, Stuart

popularised enamelled and gilt glass.

Thomas Webb, Richardson, Stevens

and Williams and Tudor Crystal,
produced ‘simpler’ cameo pieces

using moulding, casing, acid etching

and
‘marqueterie sur verre’

techniques.
Stevens and Williams employed

Keith Murray as a freelance designer.

Many of his patterns became inter-
national icons of art deco glass. In

1934 Stuart Crystal was invited to join
a government initiative to promote
an exhibition, ‘Modern Art for the

Table’, which took place at Harrods in
1934. Some pieces were exhibited

in `British Art in Industry’ at the Royal
Academy in 1935, which also show-

cased the contemporary engraved
glass style of the designers at Webb

Corbett.
During the 1950s and 60s, to

combat the further decline of interest

in heavy ‘Regency’ style cutting and

engraving, newer geometric designs

were introduced. At Webb Corbett,

Irene Stevens’ vases and Lord David
Queensbury’s ‘Queensbury’ range of
bowls and vases were typical of the

style. John Luxton was producing

similar designs for Stuart Crystal as
was David Hammond, with a

humorous twist, at Thomas Webb.

The quality and originality was
appreciated by collectors, but the
general public had moved on to
`swinging’ shapes, ‘groovy’ colours

and ‘cool’ vibes from Scandinavia,
Czechoslovakia, Murano, King’s Lynn,

Whitefriars and Dartington.
Underlying these achievements over

many generations, is the hard work
and sheer graft of the hundreds of

nameless men, women and children
who have been involved in the day-to-

day tasks of stoking and maintaining

furnaces, building the clay pots,

marking up the glass for cutting, acid
etching and washing and packing the
glass for shipment. They also had to

survive the not insubstantial danger

from hazardous materials such as red

lead oxide, putty powder for polishing
glass, and the warm fumes of

hydrofluoric acid during the etching
process.

Up to the present day

A subsequent slow demise and final
closure of the large factories has
changed the landscape of the area,
but not the originality of its glass artists.

The Glass Quarter is home to artisan
workshops and artist studios, often

in the old factory buildings, which
also offer demonstrations and short

practical courses. The Red House

Cone, former home of Stuart Crystal,

the Ruskin Centre on the site of

Webb Corbett and Royal Doulton,
and Broadfield House Glass Museum,

Kngswinford, all have artists in
residence and visitor centres keeping

British design in response to

achievements in Swedish design. They
engaged the artists, Gordon and Moira

Forsyth, Dame Laura Knight, Paul
Nash, Dod and Ernest Proctor, Eric
Ravilious, Graham Sutherland and
Vanessa Bell to design glassware for

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

LEFT

The Race, cameo vase by

George and Thomas Woodall,
Thomas Webb & Sons, c.1888.

Ht 12/in.
Broadfield House

Glass Museum

BELOW LEFT

Group of Stourbridge vases
with applied peacock trails,

c.1900-1910. Stuart & Sons
were the major producers of

this style but Thomas Webb &

Sons and Stevens &Williams

also produced variations.

The Wedgwood Museum Trust

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014
ABOVE: Three Keith Murray designs for Stevens and Williams (l to r)

Bucket vase engraved with vertical lines and dots,

Murray pattern book number 461A, circa 1934, height 19cm.

Vase in Ice Green glass engraved with polished sprays of honeysuckle,

Murray pattern book number 761A, c.1936, height 20cm.

Vase engraved with a John Dory and a conger eel,

Murray pattern book number 956A, c.1937, height 21.2cm.

Left: Cocktail shaker

enamelled with six cartoon

figures doing winter sports.

Stuart & Sons 1939. Ht gin.

Broadfield House

Glass Museum

Right: Vase with eight

descending step cuts,

at Webb Corbett, mid 1950s.
Ht 10
3

/in.
Broadfield House

Glass Museum

Running Man’ by Keith

Brocklehurst 2008.

Sand cast, water jetand
wheel cut glass, uv glued.

Ht 34Wn.

Artist’s Collection;

photo Simon Bruntnell

Multi-layer cameo vase

carved with shoals offish,
blown and carved

by Helen Millard,

early 21st century.

Photo courtesy the artist

the tradition unbroken. It hosts the biennial International

Festival of Glass. The International Glass Centre, which
recently relocated from Brierley Hill to the Dudley
campus, has been another internationally important

teaching facility. At its height it provided a unique world
facility whereby its lecturers could structure a course

for any requirement for any glassmaker from around

the world.
Cameo glass, utilising novel sandblasting, had a late

flowering in the 70s and 80s under the direction of

David Smith at Webb Corbett and was continued by
other artists. At Okra Glass (founded 1979), Richard

Golding, a master of recipes for compatible coloured
glasses, developed seven-layer blanks for the intricate

cameo work of first Sarah Cowan and, since 2001, Terri

Colledge. By 2005 Richard Golding was incorporating
his signature iridescent glass into cameo vases with five
layers, the iridescent glass sandwiched in the centre
creating another world first for the district. Golding
moved on in 2010 to form Station Glass, Shenton,

Leicestershire, but he and Colledge were recently
reunited (2012) for Ian Dury’s project to recreate the

Portland and other ancient glass cameo vases
(presented at this meeting).
Studio artists have benefited greatly from the

teaching heritage of the area, and their interaction with
college-based educator-artists. In the 1960s Harry

Seager was exploring the possibilities of plate glass for
sculpture at Stourbridge College of Art and was the first

to show such work with a notable exhibition at Gimpel

Fils in the heart of fine art in Bond Street. His exhibitions
gained acceptance for a medium subsequently
popularised by artists such as Danny Lane and those

using recycled materials. It was while a senior lecturer at

Stourbridge College of Art (1976-86) that Professor

Keith Cummings (Glass Studies, School of Art and
Design, University of Wolverhampton) published, in

1980, the first of his books on glass-forming techniques
which are still in print and continue to influence
generations of glass artists. Harry and Keith still live in or

near Stourbridge which remains the home of other
notable international studio glass talents such as Keith

Brocklehurst, David Prytherch, Martin Andrews, Vic

Bamforth and Allister Malcolm.
For 400 years the glasshouse owners and their

workforce have had to adapt to an endless array

of changes in fashion and a steady progression of
changes in the technical aspects of glass production.

Despite economic recessions, the closure of the great

traditional glass companies and the current uncertainty
of the unique collection contained in Broadfield House,

the industry has reinvented itself yet again, and the
current breed of studio glass artists are the new

ambassadors for glass. With that tradition, it is
inconceivable that Stourbridge DNA will not be present
when and wherever glass is made.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY
2014

Glassmaking in

Hungary

Part 2: The Age of Enlightenment and Commerce
Attila Sik and Zsuzsanna Molnar

fig. 1: Two

iridescent glass

vessels by Valentin

Leo Pantocsek,

1860.

Illustrations
are from the
collection of the

author unless
otherwise stated

THIS second part of the article

covers the 18th- and 19th-

century history of glassmaking
in Hungary.

We initially planned to cover
contemporary glass in this

part, but because of the artistic

variety and importance of the

20th-century Hungarian

glasswork we will include this

information in a later article.

T
HE method of Hungarian glass-

making reflected the hegemony
of Venetian blown glass, Czech-

Moravia and German crystal glass
styles. The aristocrats and well-to-do
civic families required high quality, richly

engraved and brightly-coloured glass

to decorate the dining table and the

mantelpiece. Small glass workshops

using wood-burning furnaces were
unable to produce clear crystal (lead)

glass and they continued producing

items for the peasant population.
Larger glassworks, or smaller work-

shops with enough capital to

modernise the furnaces, adopted the

Siebert-type regenerative heating system
and gas-tank furnaces. This modern-

isation was often the last option for
survival because wood supply started

to dry up due to the uncontrolled local
deforestation. The manorial glass-

works often moved from one wooded

estate to another, and some isolated

forest glasshouses continuously devel-

oped through the course of the 19th

century into glass factories.
One of the most important glass-

works was located in Northern Hungary

at Zlatno where Janos Gyorgy Zahn

ran his factory and was an important
figure in the Biedermeier-style glass-

making business, together with

Lobmeyr and Perger in Austria. The
name of this factory is associated with
iridescent glass; the brilliant inventor,

Valentin Leo Pantocsek, worked here
extensively. Pantocsek (1812-93) was

a medical doctor who received his
degree in 1843. He became fascinated

by the newly-developed form of photo-

graphy known as a daguerrotype.
First, he worked in a glass factory

owned by Stefan Kuchinka, in Utekac.

There, in 1850, he developed the
hialoplastic method, which he used for

making glass coins that were, among
other uses, embedded in glass
beakers and chalices. Admired for

their extremely fine level of detail and
sharp pressed lines, mostly depicting

figures in profile, they won a gold

medal at the Paris World Fair in 1855.

Pantocsek took the secret of manu-
facture to his grave and surviving

examples are not known, or are hidden

in private collections.
In 1856, already working at Zlatno in

Zahn’s factory, he extended his existing
technique or developed a new one to
iridise blown glass vessels
(fig.1).
The

first iridescent works were shown and

lauded at the lesser-known 1862

World Fair in London. His native

country did not hold his development

in as high regard, and it was largely

ignored, but the opportunity was
spotted by the Austrian Josef Lobmeyr

and his brother who owned the
esteemed glass company AL Lobmeyr
in Vienna. They saw a future in the

glass finish and ‘enticed’ one of

Pantocsek’s glassmaking colleagues
away to teach them how to make
iridised glass. The Lobmeyr brothers
passed this information on to their

brother-in-law, Wilhelm Kralik, who

produced the glass for them at his

factory. In 1873, Lobmeyr displayed a
huge range of iridescent glass at the

World’s Fair in Vienna where it received
international attention and met with

great success. Zahn’s Hungarian factory
did not stop producing iridescent glass,

but although iridescent glasses were

exported as far as the United States,

his reach was not enough to make any

significant impact. As Pantocsek did

not write his recipe down, the

company ceased production after his
death in 1893. The bright and irising

surface effect of this type of glass was

influential in the European Liberty style,

Art Nouveau and in the development
of American glass manufacturer Louis

Comfort Tiffany.

Hungarian glassmakers, apart from

adopting the international historicist
style, developed its particular national
qualities out of Hungarian motifs,

which predominated strongly under

the Liberty style too, even after the end
of the 1900s.

The 19th century brought important

changes to the Hungarian glass

industry from another point of view: the

separation of the glassmaking and

ornamenting workshops, mainly at

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

fig.4: Tumbler.

Hermes with the

Infant Bacchus
(after Coreggio)

engraved by Jozsef

Piesche (1830).

Museum of Applied

Arts, Budapest

Pest-Buda (the name used before

1872, later Budapest) from the middle
of the 19th century. One of the most

renowned glass decorators who
extensively used Hungarian motifs
was Henrik Giergl (1827-71), trained at

Lobmeyr in Vienna. The Giergl shop
was established by his father in the

heart of Pest in 1820. They had a keen
eye for quality and, apart from their
own high-end glass items, the shop

also offered Daum and Galle master-
pieces for the wealthy clients. The

apprenticeship at Lobmeyr left its

mark on his style: clear, precise, and
beautiful design characterises his
works, reflecting the popularity of the
combination of Hungarian historicism,

national style and oriental designs
(fig.2).
The store operated until 1910.

The profound influence of Czech

glassmaking in the 19th century was

reflected in the glass items produced in
Hungary. Glass cutting and engraving
was masterfully exercised in Bohemia,

skills that required special technique,
talent and equipment. Not surprisingly,

a large quantity of glass with Hungarian
motifs, famous Hungarian personalities
or buildings in Pest-Buda were made

abroad and exported to Hungary. Only

a handful of glass engraver masters
worked in Pest-Buda, most notably
Jozsef Oppitz. The family probably

originated from Moravia, and after a

long wandering he settled down in
Kassa (now Kosice) in the first half of
the 19th century where he joined the
glass guild. Most of his works are still in
private hands, thus we have limited

information about his art
(fig.3).
He is

considered the most significant glass

engraver of Northern Hungary. Another
important engraver who worked in
Pest around this time was Jozsef

Piesche. He was born in Steinschonau

and settled down in Pest around 1821
where he worked not only as glass

engraver, but also as a gemstone
cutter. His artistic talent was rooted in

the transposition of the gemstone

cutting technique into glass engraving
(

fig.4).
His work greatly influenced not

so much his contemporaries, but the

next generation of engravers. He was
conscious of his talent and always
signed his works.
Istvan Sovanka (1858-1944) was

the only glassmaker in Hungary, who

followed Galles cameo technique in
the 19th century, working in the

Zayugroc glass factory. Unlike Galle,
he used multiple, very thin layers of

coloured glass on a colourless or

lightly-coloured base glass that was

acid etched and sometimes treated
to achieve an iridescent surface
(fig.5).

He won gold medals at World’s

fig.2: Typical

Hungarian motifs

decorate a jug

a vase and

a tumbler made
by Henrik Giergl,

1896.

fig.3: Large goblet
with cover richly

engraved byffizsef

Oppitz, 184
7.

Museum of Applied
Arts, Budapest

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY
2014

fig.

7:
Souvenir cup

produced by the

Parcid factory.
Engraved, applied
red glass beads,

gilded decoration.

Exhibitions in St Louis in 1904 and

Milan in 1906. Around 1908 he moved

to Sepsibukszad’s glass factory as a

joint tenant, and worked here until the
outbreak of the First World War. After

1914 he returned to his original

profession of woodcarving, creating

sculptures.
In the 1860s, a new glass style was

adopted in Hungary with the

promotion of Agost Trefort, Minister of

Education. Making stained glass

fig.5: Multi-layered cameo vase

by Istvan Sovanka ,1900. Zayugroc.

Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest

reached the level of the highest
international quality exemplified by

Miksa Roth’s work, ‘the imperial and
royal glasspainter’
(fig. 6).
The high level

of stained-glass art of that time was

acknowledged with a silver medal at
the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.

Roth’s work decorated tea houses,
mansions and villas and can still be
seen in important buildings such as in

the Hungarian Parliament, Hungarian

National Bank and Benedictine Abbey
of Pannonhalma.
The industrial exhibitions (1842,

1843, 1846) by Kossuth’s society also
gave inspiration to the glass industry,

or, in this case, the world exhibitions
where Hungarian factories won

numerous medals — especially London
1862, Vienna 1873 and Paris 1900.

fig.6: Stained and schwarzlot painted

glass in lead settingby Miksa R6th
and Gezcz Marati (designer), 1910.

Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest
Based on archival data, we can say

that glassworks operated in the Matra

mountains since the 16th century but

they were not really significant, since
due to the logging in the surrounding

forest they continuously migrated and,

in the course of time, they completely
disappeared. In this region only one

factory survived, in Parad. The factory,

that is still in operation, was founded

in 1708 by Prince Ferenc Rakoczi II,

who was the owner of the land. In

1711 the factory ceased production
and restarted only in 1727; then in

1767 was moved to its present location,

Paradsasvar. With much historical

information previously unknown, in
1964 the factory celebrated its 150-

year anniversary because for a long
time it was believed that the factory
was founded in 1814. After the

relocation, the factory began to
develop and the Parad glass products
were widely known in the 1780-905.

In 1803 the workshop was fitted with

engraving and cutting equipment,
which allowed them to produce

artistically decorated lead crystal items.

In 1819 the factory was rebuilt and
modernised resulting in higher volume
and better quality products. Parad
products started to be exported in

volumes mainly to Balkan countries.
1840 was another milestone in the

history of the Parad glassworks, as

from this year the factory was owned
by the family of Count Karolyi, and this
was the first year to have an inventory.

Moreover, at this time the area of Parad

began to flourish because of the

popularity of the spa. The Parad

factory spotted a business opportunity

and produced a large number of
souvenir items for the spa guests

including memory beakers and glass

for thermal water drinking
(fig.
7). Other

souvenir items such as vases and
beakers that reminded the guests of

their stay were also mass-produced

(fig.8).
Here we have to mention the

spreading popularity of medicinal
bathing during this period, as this type

of recreation greatly impacted on
glassmaking. In 1688 the English

Queen Anne, after suffering another

miscarriage, left London to recuperate
in the spa town of Bath. This event

is considered to mark the beginning

of the spa culture in Europe (other
sources mention 1702). At first, the

spa culture began to spread through

aristocratic circles and was more of a
social event rather than a healing

exercise. Later, due to the develop-

ment of rail networks, it became more

affordable and accessible to the

middle classes. In 19th-century Europe

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

fig.8: Souvenir items relating to spa towns.

left: Enamelled and gilded vase, c.1900;

centre: Uranium beaker with enamel and gilt decoration, c.1840;

right: Enamel-decorated multicoloured vase with applied photograph, c.1920.

10
THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

fig.9: Bath cure cups.

above: 1860-70, bevelled, schwarzlot painting;

Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest;
right: engraved and gilded decoration.

particular attention was focused on the

composition of the thermal waters and
places where mineral and thermal

waters were consumed became

widely popular. With the development

of medicine, therapies were supple-

mented with the consumption of
thermal waters, exercise and diet; thus

a new industry began to emerge.

Glass factories produced beakers

and glass cups decorated with views
together with the name of the spa

(fig.9).
The style of the early Hungarian

bath cups around 1820 reflected the

Biedermeiyer taste with thick walls
and round bases. From the 1850s

forms and decoration became more
elaborate. But to return to the history
of Parad glassworks: in the National

Exhibition in 1846 the factory won

the silver medal with its products.
Moreover, with continuous develop-

ment by the Kdrolyi family Farad, was
among the first glass factories to use
potash rather than soda and change

their kiln fuel from wood to coal. This
development was interrupted by the

outbreak of the First World War, but

the factory kept producing interesting

and characteristic glass thoroughout
the 20th century
(fig.10).

Another major factory was estab-

lished in the 19th century that still

produces glass in the 21st century.
Berndt Neumann established the Ajka

factory in 1878 with 40 workers and
a steam engine – which was the
‘modern’ technology at that time in

Hungary – after the predecessor of

Ajka’s factory at OrkCit (a small village

near to Ajka) closed down in 1876. In
the 1880s the factory won numerous

prizes at national exhibitions with their

lamp cylinders, wine glasses, every-
day glass items and cut glassware.

At the same time they also made
cased, gilded, pressed, enamelled and

iridescent glassware, scent-bottles

and table glasses. In 1891 the factory

changed owner to Janos Kossuch and

the factory flourished. At the turn of the

20th century the Ajka Glass Factory
changed their production line in two
directions: for working of hot, furnace-

ready, glass and of cold glass. The

factory still produces glass; under the
Ajka brand name, but also for other
brands including Faberge, Dior and

Waterford. The exported items contain
only the target brand name, and not
was produced at the end of the 20th

century can be seen in the museum of

the Ajka Glass Factory.
The evolution of technology in glass

engraving and cutting enabled the
glass masters to produce highly artistic

objects. Apart from the already

mentioned J6zsef Oppitz and J6zsef
Piesche, a number of talented
engravers and cutters worked in
different parts of the country and

immortalised significant events on
glass beakers, cups and vases.

Events included the Great Flood of

Pest of 1838, the revolution and war
of 1848-49 and portraits of eminent

personalities related to the revolution,

but objects depicting ‘simple’ town-

scapes and landscapes are also not

uncommon. These objects are not
only intended to depict the era

and the nature, but also served as

a gift to high-ranking officials in
prominent positions to gain their
‘goodwill’ and smooth the way to win

a case during intervention.

Part 3 of the series will cover the

history of Hungarian glassmaking
from the mid-20th century until the
present day.

Ajka, and thus without having access

to the factory’s archive we are not able

to know exactly what Waterford glass

is actually made in Hungary.
In 1896 numerous exhibitions and

programmes took place to celebrate

the 1,000th anniversary of the estab-

lishment of Hungary as a state. In the

Millennium Exhibition sixteen glass
factories participated and exhibited
their newest products. The Ajka Glass

Factory created a glass copy of the
Holy Crown of Hungary, which was a

technical feat at the time. The glass

crown is now in the Museum of

Applied Arts
(fig.11)
while a copy that
fig.10: Three glass

items with charac-

teristic lace

decoration

produced by the

Farad factory

around 1940.

fig.11: Decorative

glass modelled on

the Hungarian

Royal Crown.

Faceted, mould-

blown, etched and

engraved, Ajka,

1896.

Museum of Applied

Arts, Budapest

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

A Visit

to the
Higgins

in Bedford

Tim Mills

C
ECIL Higgins was born in 1856

into a successful brewing

family. His father had founded

the brewery in the 1820s on the site

now occupied by the Higgins Museum
and Art Gallery. The family wealth
enabled Cecil to have a good education

and to spend his early years travelling
widely in Europe and Australia.
Cecil worked for the brewery after

his father’s death in 1883 but appears
to have shown little interest in the day-

to-day running of the business. He

moved to London in the 1890s and
became something of a playboy,
devoting himself to enjoyment and

collecting beautiful things. The brewery

was sold in 1927 and in 1930 Cecil

inherited his brother’s share of the

family fortune. He was now a very
wealthy man and his collecting

became more focused, concentrating

on the fields of glass and ceramics.

Around this time he decided to leave

his collection to the Bedford
Corporation. From then on his
acquisitions were made with this

purpose in mind. Cecil died in 1941,

but it was not until 1949 that the

Corporation opened the Cecil Higgins

Art Gallery in the family mansion on the

brewery site.
The new entrance.

Bedford Museum opened in the

1960s based on the collections of
Bedford Modern School and Bedford

Borough Council. It was as a child

that I remember visiting the museum

and finding the various exhibits a little
disquieting. Ancient Egyptian artefacts

including, as I recall, a mummy’s
bandaged hand, left me wondering if
any residual curses might extend to

a small boy staring through the glass
case. The museum at that time had

a feel similar to that one experiences

now when visiting the Pitt Rivers

Museum in Oxford, but on a smaller
scale. The collection contained the

sort of artefacts amateur Victorian

The old buildings
with their modern

extension.
explorers would garner on their travels

around the empire. In 1981 the Bedford

Museum moved to the current
brewery site.
In 2007 the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery

and the Bedford Museum were closed

for redevelopment. In June 2013, six
years and almost six million pounds

later, the Higgins opened, uniting the
two previous organisations as a single,

rebranded attraction.
Entrance to the Higgins is through

a small courtyard — once part of the
working brewery. The reception area is

large and well-lit with welcoming staff.

The Decorative Arts Galleries are
coherently themed to show the work

of specific designers, such as William

Burgess and Edward Bawden, as well
as design movements, such as the

Rococo and the Arts and Crafts.
Furthermore, the rooms are laid out
to show chronological developments

in style and manufacturing methods.
Because of this, the glass in the

collection is distributed throughout a

number of cabinets and settings.
The rooms of most interest to glass

collectors are situated on the first

floor. The first cabinet we encounter
contains items related specifically to

the brewery site. This display contains

numerous bottles from the 19th and
20th centuries that were used by the
brewery. Further along the landing is

a second cabinet which contains a

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

somewhat varied group of glass items.

Most pieces date to the 17th or 18th
centuries — some are English, some

others continental. Nevertheless, there

are a few gems contained within;

I particularly liked a shaft-and-globe

serving bottle dating to around 1670

and I am sure colour twist collectors

will enjoy the canary yellow example

with a bell bowl.
The lion’s share of Cecil Higgins’

glass collection is contained in the

Design Gallery. Within these rooms

are a number of cabinets filled with
fine examples. As with many early
collectors, Cecil collected a number of

fine Venetian and
facon de Denise

glasses. Of particular note are an early

16th-century Venetian enamelled bowl
and a covered goblet with a particularly
ornate twisted stem from the mid-17th
century. The collection also has a

number of 17th-century lead pieces

from the Ravenscoft and Hawley

Bishop factories. Of great importance
are the sealed Ravenscroft jug and a

sealed bowl.
There is also a cabinet of fine 18th-

century stemmed glasses. Within this

display are a number of colour twists,

balusters, Beilbys, Jacobites and

Privateers. Other cabinets have

displays themed by period, which

include furniture, ceramics and glass.

It is within one of these that my own

particular favourite piece is shown — a

very fine rummer on lemon squeezer

foot, engraved with an image of Diana
the huntress.
A collection of

James Powell and

Sons glass..

18th-century glass

display.

The next room moves us into the

19th century. It is this period which is

perhaps most under-represented in the

glass collection. There are a few notable

exceptions such as a finely engraved
claret jug and goblets. It is towards the

end of the century when the collection
picks up with a fine and representative
display of Arts and Crafts pieces by

Whitefriars. The Art Nouveau is repre-
sented by pieces from firms such as

Galle and Tiffany. The collection is
brought up to date by examples of the

Studio work of Sam Herman.
The Higgins is well worth a visit just

to see the glass, but there is much

more. Most notably, the High Gothic
furniture designs of William Burgess

are a ‘must see’, while the galleries
given over to local life and industry are

of great interest to us natives. The old

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014
13

Left: Studio glass.

Right: Venetian

glass display.

The restaurant.

mansion is incorporated into the new

layout with rooms showing period interior
design as well as cabinet displays of
Cecil’s ceramics collection. Finally,
large areas are also provided for the art
collection, much of which has a 19th-

century focus including pre-Raphaelite
works. Temporary exhibitions are also

staged throughout the year.
The Higgins is situated close to

the river embankment which is an

attractive aspect of the town. The old
castle mound is adjacent to the gallery
buildings and a number of restaurants,

the John Bunyan Museum and small
gallery-type shops are close by.

Parking is very restricted in the

immediate area though it is possible
to park on the road along the
embankment. Alternatively, the Lurke

Street multi-storey is only a few
minutes’ walk away.
My most recent visit was on a

Sunday, which day has the advantage
of free street parking close by. The
Higgins opens at 2pm on a Sunday,
but the small licensed bistro restaurant

(called The Pantry) opens at midday,
so my wife and I decided to eat lunch.

The menu is generally Italian with pasta
and pizzas, but it also offers tapas style
dishes to share. Lunch with wine came

in at around £35 for two.
In my opinion the Higgins is one of

the best provincial galleries for glass.

The breadth of the collection means
there is something for most collectors

and the high quality of the refurbish-

ment makes it a pleasure to visit.

The Higgins is open Tuesday to

Sunday and admission is free. The
website gives opening times and
details of their temporary exhibitions:

www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

The

Attraction of Imperfection

Global creative uses for recycled glass
Part 2: Studio artists

Roger Ersser

fig 1: Faceted

container
fragments in

an art panel

commissioned

fora frontdoor.

Daniel Maher.

Illustrations
are reproduced
courtesy of the

artist unless
otherwise stated

EFORE the availability of equip-

ment suitable for small studios,
glass artists were attached to

factories and glassworks and used the
metal they made. The rise of historically

important centres owed as much to

their closely-guarded glass recipes as

to their ground-breaking techniques.

Maintaining and extending their
signature colourways, textures and
decoration depended on tight control

of the glass composition and glass-
working techniques. Further modifi-

cations were necessary due to
mechanisation and the demands of

19th- and 20th-century designers for
unique pieces and small batch prestige

ranges. The coming of the studio glass

artist prompted the development of

materials compatible with their needs.

So why choose to start with an empty
bottle, a CRT television screen or a

broken window pane?

Attraction to the artist

ALTHOUGH the intrinsic value of glass
is low and only with large sculptures
does it become a significant part of the

final price of art pieces, studio artists
with environmental concerns or who

are fascinated by the uncertain
characteristics of the source material

use recycled glass in their work.
Like the artisans described in the

first part of this article, some do work
exclusively with recycled material and it
is part of their environmentally friendly,

low-impact way of life. Creating unique

pieces without the constraints of regular

production, they are adventurous in

their source material and willing to

experiment with technique and various
combinations of glass. According to

Cindy Ann Coldiron they freely share
their technical experiences with like-
minded artists and discuss the perils in
obtaining the glass. They are frequently

thought to be clandestine alcoholics
because of their bottle collections; are

the scourge of the health and safety
police at dumps, skips and recycling

collection centres; scavenge demo-

lition sites and charity shops and

acquire glass from locals, aware of
their interests, on their doorsteps.
Glass artists use recycled glass as

part of their repertoire when it is

appropriate for a project or when
exploring the textures and effects

possible with a range of materials.

They enjoy the challenge of its
unpredictability and handling charac-

teristics, in addition to fulfilling their
environmental responsibilities. Anne

Arlidge, among others, reuses prestige

glass factory waste.
Recently there has been meaningful

interaction between artists, architects
and designers and some specialist

recycling companies to find uses for

mountains of industrial glass waste.
Original, inventive and potentially
commercial upcycling uses for waste
glass have resulted from Matthew

Durran’s visionary ‘Glass Heap
Challenge’ events. His previous

upcycling projects have included

sculpture, the windows of St Martins

in the Fields, London and CRT glass
block ‘windows’ for a canal boat.

The International Festival of Glass,
Stourbridge 2012, hosted a large

Challenge event. International teams
of three people (including one from

Bulgaria via the internet) with a variety

of glass working/designing skills were

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

presented with previously unseen piles

of mixed glass and challenged to
create original pieces. Visitors were

even invited to take material home to

make their own. The mind-boggling
variety of creations can be seen in
The

Glass Heap Challenge
eBook. A new

technique to me was Bulgarian

Lachezar Dochev’s ‘Kiln blowing’.

Upturned jars are placed in the kiln
over a substance which produces
clouds of gas at high temperatures, so

as the jar softens it expands to
become a vase, a bowl or a

lampshade. More events around the
globe are planned.
fig.2: Astral

fragment’ –

controlled
devitrification

of bottle glass.

Bill Hess.

Technical considerations

A Clean Washington Centre (CWC)

report in 1996 discussed using post-
consumer glass for blowing and

casting. The same year, a second

report on recycled glass for art glass
applications described how to source

reliable material, working practices,
economics, and inconsistency of
product. Several companies, especially

in the USA, provide recycled cullet

and powders specifically for studio

artists. Some also supply compatible
coloured frit.

The chemical composition and

handling characteristics of glass
designed for cheap, rapid, mech-

anised mass production are not ideal

for complex hand-working by creative

artists. Most glassworking techniques

have been attempted using recycled
cullet and powder, but many have

required significant modification for

each type of glass investigated,

starting with cleaning to remove
fig.3: ‘Crevasse:

Dartington waste

crystal cullet,

coloured frit, cast
on hot worked

spun disc,
multiple kiln

reworking.

AnneArlidge.

fig.4: Meltwater
vase: Dartington
waste crystal

cullet, blue, white

and greenfit,
blown vase.

AnneArlidge.
contaminants such as tin from the

surface of float glass and adding soda

ash to the melt to improve handling.

Batch to batch (even bottle to bottle)
variation occurs and COE variations

are larger than with ‘artist’ glass,
leading to poor or failed fusing. The
short time melted bottle glass remains

flexible out of the furnace during

blowing is no handicap for tableware

makers, but James
M.

Magagula

(Ngwenya Glass) highlights the need

for frequent reheating and rapid

manipulation when creating complex
studio pieces. He also finds it
challenging to source frit colours

compatible with his glass.
Casting, fusing and slumping tech-
niques are pillars of studio glass-

working and have been equally fruitful

for the recycle artist. From jewellery to

monumental sculpture, recycled glass
has found its way into horizontal kilns,

sand, plaster and other moulds. Apart

from fusing problems, prolonged or

frequent reheating of ‘industrial’ glass
at higher temperatures can lead to
colour changes, deAttification, degra-
dation and collapse. Some artists control

this to produce crystalline rock effects

and opaque glass
(figs
2 and 3);

others

stress how this contributes to the

uniqueness of individual units in a

limited run. Mark Wotherspoon has
catalogued his tribulations in learning

to cast CRT glass.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY2014

Representative artists whose work

illustrate a variety of techniques

THE most comprehensive review to
date of sources of glass, satisfactory

ways of working with it and artists

using it, is to be found in
Sculpture and

Design with Recycled Glass
(Cindy

Ann Coldiron, 2011). Thirty artists,

mainly sculptors and mostly American,
are discussed in detail and more are

mentioned in other chapters, especially

those whom she categorises as ‘craft

artists’. In the chapter with detailed
descriptions of the installation of public

art works by her, Aaron Scales and

Mark Wotherspoon illustrate the

practicalities of working with recycled

glass on the grand scale.
The Transformers Exhibition, held as

part of the 2009 London Design

Festival at Zest Gallery, offers a British

perspective. Adam Aaronson combined

bottle vases with silver foil decoration;

Helene Uffren cut moulded and glued
bottles into new containers; Jude Stoll

exhibited pieces using upcycled

bottles and containers; Brett Manley
made casts of natural garden objects

and Xiaoou Zhong was also inspired
by nature.
Another exhibitor was Anne Arlidge

whose portfolio centres on blown,
cast, cut and polished recycled crystal

and pane glass. It includes glass

panels, sculpture, frivolous coloured

jellybean pots, robust pane-glass
tableware and a variety of public

commissions. Her ‘lost vegetable’

technique is intriguing. A vegetable or

fruit is encased in plaster and heated in

a kiln. After the ash is removed, the

resultant mould is returned to the kiln
with a chunk of crystal placed above it.

On heating, the molten glass fills the
cavity. After suitable cooling, the plaster

is shattered to reveal the glass replica
which is then polished. Her statement

that there can be beauty in changes to

the natural world is reflected in her
complex multi-stage disc sculpture
‘Crevasse’
(fig.3)
and in her Meltwater

series which explores the affinity of
glass with water and ice
(fig.4).

Blown vases and bowls of the

highest quality have been created by
two artists who were among the
earliest to exploit the possibilities of

recycled glass. Japanese artist Shuro

Kasai took up glassblowing using
recycled materials in 1983. In 2001 he

held his first European exhibition of

soft and warm-to-touch vases with

opaque rock crystal effects, in Brussels.
Examples are illustrated in the 1999

exhibition archive of Galley East in

Australia.
Sibusiso D. Mhlanda started at

Nygwenya Glass in 1979, had training

at Kosta Boda in Sweden and, since

1987, when the factory reopened
using recycled glass, has become

an internationally-renowned studio
glass artist. He has collaborated with

Jan Eric Ritzman and Peter Bremers.

An example of his work, which often
has an African theme, is shown in

figs 5a and 5b.
His colleague, James

M. Magagula, has gained an equally
impressive reputation. They interact

with other artists during the inter-

national workshops run by the factory.

Bottles and panes

TWO of the best known and longest-

established artists/ engineers / designers
in the USA who use recycled glass in
their work are Bill Hess in Virginia and
Erwin Timmers at the Washington

Glass Studio and School, Maryland.

Both have used bottles and panes

in their diverse portfolios. While Bill

favours bottle glass for most of his
projects, Erwin has been particularly

successful with panes destined for the
dumper truck.
In England, Max Jacquard, inspired

by traditional quilting, has expanded

his Glass Patch sculptures to include
panels of bottle glass tiles. For
‘Patchwork blanket’
(figs 6a and 6b),

recycled net curtain fabric was glued

to the central cylinders of the bottles

and sandblasted to create a pattern
on the surface. Tiles were then cut

from the cylinders and, after having
holes drilled in them, were ‘stitched’
with wire to transform them into a
‘glass fabric’ blanket. Together with

Jon Lewis (Orbic Glass Design), who

demonstrates hot working techniques,

he runs annual upcycling workshops
at Kestle Barton, in Helston, Cornwall.

fig.5 (above):

Blown bottle glass/

coloured fritbowl
(a) and inside (b).

SibusLso D. Mhlanga
Courtesy Ngwenya

Glass.

fig.6 (right):

(a) ‘Patchwork

blanket; (b)detail.

Sandblasted bottle

glass tiles.

Max Jacquard.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

CRT glass

CRT glass has found favour with

sculptors, although it usually comes in

shades of grey as fusing with other
glasses has been difficult. Nulife Glass,

however, promotes a range of coloured
pebbles and paperweights made from

their de-leaded glass. It was also used
by the Dutch Team Stipglas at the Glass

Heap Challenge to make coloured
tiles. Australian Mark Wotherspoon’s

TV glass sculptures have frequently
been based on the human form. He

used his nephew as a model for his 2.4

metre high ‘Television Within, Television

Without’ steel-framed, moulded glass
panelled piece. It was exhibited at the
2008 ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ event at

Bondi beach, Sydney, Australia
(fig.
7).

Also working in Australia, Luna Ryan

uses it for her more modest sized cast
pieces
(Glass Cone
89).

The Flowform water feature in the

pond at the Ruskin Glass Centre,

Stourbridge
(fig.9)
may be familiar to

GA members and was constructed
from TV glass by students under the

direction of lecturers, artists and

craftsmen to celebrate 10 years of

Glasshouse College. Under the ultimate
control of Hannah Kippax (winner of

the 1st British Glass Biennale, 2004),
screens were slumped into moulds to

produce the interconnecting pans.
Supporting bricks and blown elements

made from cullet and
pate de verre

sculptures were placed in the pond. An

account of the significance of flowform

and the whole journey, including co-
operation with the recycling companies,
can be found in the 2011 edition of

Run of the Mill,
the Ruskin Mill

Educational Trust magazine. It has

inspired Hannah to search for other
creative uses for recycled glass.

Windows

DECORATIVE windows can be made
from upcycled fragments often
combined with clear or stained glass.

Winchester and Wells Cathedrals have
spectacular, old, abstract stained-
glass windows constructed by

upcycling rescued fragments of even

earlier ones. Parts of all manner of

household containers can be found
incorporated into the Graveyard series
made by US stained-glass maestro,

Daniel Maher. Patterns of green bottle
bases and fragments of Depression

glass plates, bowls and containers are
popular with his clientele. More pictorial

subjects include fish, such as ‘Red
Snapper’, and he has captured the

magic of refracted light using faceted
glass in his windows
(fig.1).

Self-taught John Bassett from

Brookline MA, USA, has made sculp-

ture and glass relief windows from
found objects since 1979. In 2012
he was commissioned to provide

three sculptures made from alcoholic
beverage bottles to stand outside

restaurants recently granted alcohol
licences in historically ‘dry’ Rockport.
He slumps and fuses salvaged glass

and combines them with other cast-off

materials to create translucent panels.

In contrast to his often amusing
iconography, ‘Running in Boston’
2013
(fig.8)
tells a more poignant tale.

It is obvious that creative uses for

recycled glass are going to expand as
artists continue to explore possibilities

for society’s cast-offs.

This series of articles were only made
possible by the generous sharing of

information by contacts from all over
the world who have allowed
reproduction of their copyrighted

material. Special thanks are due to

Matt Durran, Max Jacquard, Anne
Arlidge, Bill Hess, John Bassett,

Daniel Maher, Magie Irwin, Elfat
Carwich, Tracy Debus; Leigh White at

The Ruskin Centre; Buzz, Gary and
Sarah at Ngwenya Glass and all those

who patiently answered my emails.

fig.

7
(above left):

`Television Within,
Television

Without: Mark

Wotherspoon.

At Sculpture by the

Sea 2008. Photo:

Zeman Palma,
with permission.

fig.8 (above right):
Running in

Boston; 2013,

bottle glass and
unfired swarf

in wood ash.

John Bassett.

fig.9 (right):

Flowform water
feature.

Courtesy of Ruskin

Glass Centre.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

The

Designs of John Luxton

Nigel Benson

j
OHN Luxton (1920-2013) was

the only local man of the postwar

Stourbridge glass designers, so

it is understandable that his initiation

into the subject came through attend-

ing the Stourbridge School of Art.

Having been at the school for three
years, he went on to the Royal College
of Art, as did other major designers of

his day: Irene Stevens (Webb Corbett),

David Hammond (Thomas Webb) and
Geoffrey Baxter (Whitefriars). His time

there was interrupted by being called

up for war service, where he joined

the Royal Artillery; on his return he
completed his studies at the RCA

joining Stuart & Sons in 1948, the
same year he graduated.

In the September 1956 issue of

Pottery and Glass
it was observed that

he joined a firm that had an established
‘house style’ which was ‘particularly

strongly imprinted in the combined
work of all the Stuart family who had

always appreciated that cutting should
be used with discretion’. It carried

on to say, ‘but despite this strong
precedent, Luxton has still succeeded

in imparting his own touch to the

firm’s designs being, in particular, an
excellent mediator between traditional

and the contemporary’.
In reality, as Stuart’s in-house

designer, John Luxton had to design

under both banners throughout his
career with the firm, although the major

part of his production fell into what is

generally referred to as traditional.

This was a style within the firm that
was championed by Frederick Stuart

who found many of Luxton’s designs

too avant-garde for his taste, while

Geoffrey Stuart continued the

company’s penchant for deep cutting

in his role as head of the design
department.
The propensity within firms to hold

to a house style means that it is not

always appreciated that the in-house
designers covered all the designs that

were produced by a given firm; so, for
instance, we always think of Clyne

Farquharson as having produced
only a few specialist designs for John

Walsh Walsh, whereas in actuality his
was the hand and mind behind most,

if not all, of their production. In just

the same way John Luxton had to
produce huge quantities of patterns

to satisfy management and depart-

ment store buyers; naturally, there was
a certain amount of repetition (or
variation on a theme) within this side of

his design work.
Nowadays, however, there is far

more interest in John Luxton’s con-

temporary designs, just as those of his

rival colleagues in other companies.

To that end this short nod toward the
quality and indeed quantity of Luxton’s

work concentrates on his modern
designs, many of which were sold

abroad, especially to the USA, but also
to Canada, South Africa, Australia and

New Zealand.

Luxton’s contemporary creations

included geometric and abstract

left.• The iconic

‘Rhythm’ pattern

decanter, c.1950.

right Decanter

decorated with

stylised flowers
reminiscent of

harebells; the
pattern was

launched in 1954.

THE GLASS
CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

designs and stylised plant forms, all of

which had a restraint that was

recognisably by his hand while also
encompassing the company style. He

managed to harness these stylistic
patterns for use on suites of table glass

as well as on vases and bowls. Naturally
enough he was interested in the tech-

nical side of glassmaking, as confirmed
in an interview with him during the late
1990s when he mentioned that he also
devised the gadget that was used to

make the air twist stems in Stuart
glassware, including the Ariel and

Rhythm patterns.
Proof that John Luxton’s designs have

stood the test of time came when he
was encouraged out of retirement during

the mid-1990s to oversee the intro-
duction of a series of shapes based on a

pattern originally used on one item that

he designed some 35 years previously.

This became known as the Luxton
Collection and was produced in tandem
with designs by Jasper Conran. Sadly,

because of the modern predilection for

celebrity, it is Conran’s designs that

Diagonal, or swirled, mitre-cut design showing great restraint, c.1960.

Barrel form vase with vertical bands of polished lenses, 1952.

Illustrated in a number of books and a favourite of John Luxton.
Stylised fir-cone pattern,c.1960.

20
THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

left: Naturally, Clyne Farquharson’s

earlier Leaf pattern design comes to mind
with this bowl. However, note the

elliptical shape along with the
unpolished leaves with polished cuts for

veining, 1960s.

below left: Footed vase with deep mitre

cutting with stars at the junctions — note
how this carries on the Stuart in-house

style while also breaking with tradition,

c.1960.

below centre: A third use of the same
blank with an unpolished diagonal grid

having mitre-cut stars within each panel,

c.1960.

below: Vertical ‘zig-zag’ mitre-cut footed
vase, 1960s.

stayed in production despite the
commercial success of the new
Luxton range.

Combined with the quality of work-

manship, the body of work that John

Luxton left for collectors to search for

and enjoy is a testament to his
longevity and diversity as a glass
designer and well worth looking out for.

Further reading:
N.P. Benson and J. Hayhurst,
Art Deco to

post Modernism, A Legacy of British Art
Deco Glass,
Liber Vitreorum, London,

2003, (copies available via the authors).

C. Hajdamach,
20th Century British Glass,

Antique Collector’s Club, Woodbridge,

2010.

L Jackson,
20th
Century Factory Glass,

Mitchell Beazley, London, 2000.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014
A geometric pattern of deep mitre-cut stars with shallow vertical lines, late 1960s.

Will Farmer with a selection from his own collection of 20th-century glass.

Buy—Keep—Sell

An insight into the world of a professional auctioneer
and savvy glass collector

WILL FARMER, director at Fieldings
Auctioneers, gave us a fascinating insight at
the recent Glass Association AGM into the

current state of the glass market, his

personal interests in the world of glass

collecting and what he sees is selling, not

selling, and perhaps especially for us GA

members, what to buy now.

W
E learned that he attended his first

auction at the tender age of 3

months and grew up surrounded

by antiques as his mother, who clearly had a

good eye, continued to buy, sell and buy

again to improve her own collection. I am sure

there are many of us who find the selling part

really hard, as even lesser-quality pieces that

had meaning at the time they were bought,
although relegated to the back of the glass
cabinet, never seem to find their way onto

eBay or the floor of an auction house. Hence
we are always trying to find space to squeeze

just one more really special piece in

somewhere!
Alan Gower

As we all now know, in the space of just ten

years or so, the internet has revolutionised
almost every area of our lives and so it has
with the auction world too, so that the glass
buyer can be located anywhere in the world

sitting at a computer keyboard, or even just

at the end of a phone. A great advantage if

you are an auctioneer, as the world is truly

your marketplace.
Drawing on his own glass collection from

which he had kindly brought along some 30

key pieces spanning well over 100 years, Will
proceeded to give us a personal insight into
what to buy, keep or sell based on his own

fifteen years’ experience of being an
auctioneer. I am sure some of this will be well
known to experienced glass collectors but it

certainly provided a good overview of the

state of the current glass market.

18th century
PREVIOUSLY collected by doctors, pro-

fessionals and the like, this segment of the

One ofWill’s pieces:Pulcino Murano glass bird

time. We learned that the top end of the

market is still secure and probably will be for
the foreseeable future but the middle and
lower end is suffering. In the auction world it is

the younger end of the buying spectrum, the
30-50 year olds (just includes me then!), who

are driving the market, and it is the more
contemporary look that is currently

fashionable. Fifteen years ago, 18th-century
decanters were making £100 plus, now they

are down to around £20-30. Perhaps a canny
buy as markets are often cyclical?

19th-century Stourbridge

THE first comment clearly has to be
caveat

emptor,
as we were shown a Victorian

epergne probably from China which could

have been made this year! Having said that, it
was fairly easy to spot as the colours were

stronger and lacked subtlety but give the

makers a few more years and who knows

what they may achieve. This has meant that

genuine Victorian epergnes can now be found

for around £100. Likewise in recent years the
cranberry/ruby glass market has collapsed

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

due to the effect of modern imports, which

has rather destroyed the market and put

people off buying. It has taken five years for

this sector of the glass market to slowly

recover. Another canny buy perhaps?
We learned that Australians are now

entering the glass market as they love English

glass and are buying middle-level pieces in

vaseline, opalescent and cased glass and
with applied florals all of which is firming up

this market sector. Likewise, South Korea has
entered the market in the two areas of

Dresden porcelain and 19th-century glass.
(Got any pieces that you think you could part
with? Now might be a good time to sell!). It is

likely that the Chinese will also enter the
contemporary glass market as they are to be

seen at key exhibitions.

Bohemian glass

APPARENTLY Arabs love Bohemian glass.

Prices are strong. Ruby, green, white-cased
but not clear glass and with lots of gold is their

preference.
European / Art Nouveau / Art Deco

IT is only some 30 years ago that Christie’s
and Sotheby’s started decorative art auctions,

initially selling art nouveau and art deco but art

nouveau is now being overtaken by 20th-
century glass. Until the current economic

recession the Japanese were major buyers of

Lalique and prices shot up but as we know

their domestic economy has been down for
quite a number of years and they have

stopped buying although over the past 12

months the prices of Lalique have come back

by some 30% or more.

20th-century glass

THE market for 20th-century glass is quite
fluid but it has taken hold with current buyers,
especially as interior design has swept away

traditional style and minimalism has gone

(thank goodness, I say!). Thirty years ago

20th-century glass was largely disregarded

but information is now more readily available

and people are talking about it, as well as the
experts and specialists who have more
recently appeared. Czech glass is especially

good to buy but prices are rising.

Contemporary glass

WE heard that the Biennale has really helped

to promote modern glass and there is a
growing interest in purchasing such one-off

pieces and with glass going to Broadfield

House and the V&A, and this is giving strong
indicators to the market about which glass

artists to collect both now and in the future.

Tailpiece
IN conclusion and on behalf of all GA

members I would like to thank Will Farmer for
giving us the benefit of his experience and for
displaying such an obvious passion for his

subject and chosen career. It made me want

to get out there and buy more! Regrettably

I missed the Fieldings glass sale that was on
the weekend after the AGM; better luck next
time.

•
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

PAPERWEIGHT CORNER

British Royal Commemorative Paperweights
PART TWO

Richard M. Giles

Part One appeared in Glass Cone no.98, Spring 2012

197
0, marked the 25th anniversary of the

8
coronation itself and Whitefriars

decided to produce two more weights similar to

those produced a year earlier — one featuring two
panels of both blue and white millefiori canes with a

central complex crown cane
(fig.29)

and another

featuring a milleflori garland with central complex
orb cane
(fig.30).

Dartington produced the second in their series

of press-moulded weights, this one featuring the
coronation coach
(fig.31).

Two years after the Queen’s Silver Jubilee came

the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales

at Caernarvon Castle, but the event was largely
ignored by the British glassmakers, so it was left to

a French company to mark the event: Cristalleries et

Verreries de Vianne, who over the years produced a
series of sulphide weights featuring well known
people under the name of Crystal D’Albret
(fig.32).

A year after that event came the 80th birthday of

the Queen Mother which was, not surprisingly,
marked with the issue of weights by Caithness

Glass who would always take every opportunity to
issue commemorative items. Dartington Glass had

allocated the fourth of their series of press-moulded

weights to the tercentenary of the extinction of the

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

dodo, so they came up with a similar weight

featuring the crown cypher
(fig.33)
and Selkirk

Glass, which in those days was under the direction
of ex-Caithness Glass maker Peter Holmes, came

up with a weight that was somewhat unusual for

them, being a sulphide featuring a bust of the

Queen Mother
(fig.34).

A year later came the long-awaited wedding of

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, but by this
time both Strathearn Glass and Whitefriars Glass
had disappeared from the glassmaking scene so it

was left to the other companies to mark the event

with the issue of weights. Perthshire Paperweights,

established in 1969 (who had issued very few

commemorative weights in their 33-year existence

and had ignored the Silver Jubilee), decided on this

occasion to join in the celebrations by producing

two weights: one a small weight featuring the Prince

of Wales feathers and the date 29.7.81
(fig.35)
and

the second a twisted-ribbon crown weight with
central complex crown cane and the date. Selkirk

Glass came up with a similar style twisted-ribbon
cane weight with central complex cane featuring

a heart and ‘C D 1981’
(fig.36)

as well as a sulphide

weight featuring the busts of both Charles and

Diana
(fig.37).

Long-established Stourbridge company Thomas

Webb & Sons of Dennis Glassworks joined in the
celebrations issuing a simple round flat weight with

acid-etched design on the underside featuring the

Prince of Wales feathers with ‘Royal Marriage July
1981’ around the outside
(fig.38).

Wedgwood Glass

followed the pattern of their Silver Jubilee weight with

another cut-glass weight with a blue Jasperware disc,

this time featuring the busts of Charles and Diana

above a banner saying ‘Royal Wedding’ and the
details engraved on the surrounding glass
(fig.39).
Dartington Glass had allocated 1981 to the fifth in

their series of press-moulded weights which
celebrated the 100th FA Cup Final, so they issued

two additional similar-styled weights: one featuring

the Prince of Wales feathers and the other a Welsh

dragon. Once again Caithness Glass took the

opportunity to celebrate the event with numerous

weights of varying types. My two examples are a

not very flattering double sulphide of Charles and
Diana surrounded by a ring of millefiori canes
(fig.40)

and another weight with multicoloured ribbon twist
canes with central complex C & D cane
(fig.41).

A year later Prince William was born and Caithness

marked the birth of the future King with a
Whitefriars-style crown cypher containing C, D and

W canes together with Whitefriars date cane
(fig.42)

and two years later a similar weight was
produced to mark the birth of Prince Harry.

Five years after the wedding of Charles came

that of his younger brother Prince Andrew to Sarah

Ferguson in 1986. By this time Dartington designer

Frank Thrower was seriously ill and the company

ended the series of press-moulded weights started

in 1977, so it was left to Caithness Glass and

Perthshire to mark the event. As usual, Caithness
went to town with a selection of weights of which

I chose the millefiori anchor with associated date
canes which was designed to reflect the Prince’s

naval background
(fig.

43). Andrew’s formal title was

Duke of York, so Perthshire decided to reflect the

historical aspect by producing a lampwork weight

featuring the white rose of York with associated
date canes
(fig.44).

1986 was also the 60th birthday of the Queen

and Caithness Glass was the only company to

issue a weight to mark the occasion. By this time

Wedgwood Glass had been merged with Waterford

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

and in 1988 the King’s Lynn factory was sold to

Caithness Glass.
1990 saw the demise of Thomas Webb & Sons

and also marked the 90th birthday of the Queen

Mother and as far as I am aware Caithness Glass

were the only company to mark the event, probably

because the interest in royalty-related commem-
oratives was on the wane. We did see what was

available, but nothing appealed at the time so it will

remain a gap in the collection unless I come across

one somewhere. By 1996 and the 70th birthday of

the Queen, Royal Doulton Glass had gone, having

dropped the name Webb Corbett in 1986, so as in

previous years it was left to Caithness Glass to mark

the event.

When Diana, Princess of Wales unexpectedly

died in the car accident in August 1997 most

companies making commemorative items presum-

ably decided that they could not or would not mark

the event but smaller companies like Perthshire

and John Deacons were able to quickly design and
produce a tasteful item to mark her passing.

Perthshire’s offering featured blue forget-me-not
flowers with the name Diana and the dates of her

birth and death
(fig.45)
and John Deacons came up

with a millefiori heart on muslin ground with a small

plaque bearing the name Diana
(fig.46).

As well as that tragic event, 1997 also brought

the Queen’s golden wedding anniversary and, as far

as I am aware, only Caithness Glass marked this

special event; my example is the Whitefriars-style

millefiori bell containing both complex 50 and
Whitefriars date canes
(fig.47).
The other weight

produced was the usual millefiori crown cypher

but this time set on a pure white ground.
The millennium year marked the 100th birthday

of the Queen Mother and, once again, only
Caithness Glass appears to have produced

weights for the occasion. The weight that I bought

at the time featured a millefiori crown cypher and
three separate complex canes featuring the number

100
(fig.48).
Some years later we found a shop that

still had a triple magnum centrepiece called Floral

Celebration that was made by master glassmaker

Franco Toffolo. It was one of only 25 and when
showing interest we were asked if we would like to

make an offer for it. We had seen the amazing video
that shows Franco making triple magnum weights

and we knew that Franco had since retired from

Caithness and was therefore no longer making
such weights, so after a bit of haggling we

staggered out of the shop with the 181b monster.

Last year at a flea market we found a weight made

by Caithness for the Royal Mint and featuring a

yellow lampwork rose surrounded by a ring of
millefiori containing the figure 100
(fig.49.).

By 2002, long-established Stuart Crystal, which

after becoming Stuart Strathearn in 1980 had been

absorbed into the Wedgwood Waterford Group

in 1995, plus Perthshire Paperweights had both

joined the list of glassmaking companies that

had passed into history, so it was left to Caithness
Glass to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee with a

large selection of differently-styled weights. Liking

millefiori canework rather than interpretational or

engraved designs, we chose one of the various
designs on offer featuring different styles of crown

cypher
(fig.50).
Recently we came across a different

weight based on the original Whitefriars millefiori
design employing the ERII cypher
(fig.51).
The

same year also marked the passing of the Queen
Mother at 101, but I am not aware of weights that

were issued to mark the end of such a long and

eventful life.

fig.46

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

fig.53

2006 marked the Queen’s 80th birthday followed

in 2007 by her Diamond Wedding anniversary plus

the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana

and once again Caithness Glass produced weights
to mark these events. 2007 was also the year that
Caithness Glass, as part of Edinburgh Crystal, went

into administration, eventually to be bought by

Dartington Glass with the subsequent decision to
shut down the facility in Perth, downsize and move
production to a smaller set-up in the visitor centre in

Crieff where they can be found today. By a strange
co-incidence the new production unit is next door

to the old Perthshire Paperweights factory.

2011 brought the eagerly awaited marriage of

Prince William and Catherine Middleton and
predictably Caithness were the only manufacturer

to mark the event with a range of weights. The
wedding ceremony will forever be imprinted on my

mind as I finished up watching it on TV sitting in the

middle of a ward in Cheltenham General Hospital
following an operation two days before but at least

it did provide relief from the monotony of hospital life
for a while. At the time the purchase of a paper-

weight was not a top priority so I was quite lucky to

find the weight illustrated
(fig.52)
almost a year after

the event as it was one of only 150 produced

featuring inter-twined millefiori hearts enclosing

W and C complex letter canes.
2012 marked the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

celebrations, only the second time in our history that

a British monarch had achieved this remarkable

milestone. At that time ex-Perthshire master paper-
weight maker Peter McDougall was about to close

his studio so the number of British lampwork/

millefiori paperweight makers was reduced to five
and as far as I was aware the event was ignored
by John and Craig Deacons, Willie Manson, Mike

Hunter of Twists Glass and Peter Holmes of
Scottish Borders Art Glass, so as usual it was left to

Caithness Glass to fill the gap. Initially the range of

weights included one lampwork weight, three
interpretational weights, two engraved weights and

one sand-cast block featuring the Queen’s head

but at that time no millefiori designs. We were able

to see the complete range of weights and have to

admit that nothing really stood out but, feeling that

we should have something to mark such an

important occasion, we decided on a magnum

interpretational weight made in a limited edition of

60
(fig.53).
Later in the year we came across a

millefiori weight marking the Diamond Jubilee, the

delay probably being due to the fact that with their

move and downsizing there was a shortage of
glassmakers capable of making millefiori canes.
Caithness certainly did not spend much time on

the design as the weight was an exact copy of the
2002 Golden Jubilee weight
(fig.50)
with a 60

complex cane in lieu of the previous 50 cane. A year

later marked the 60th anniversary of the actual
coronation in June 1953 and our weight for this

anniversary was one of only 60 weights produced
by Caithness exclusively for Govier’s of Sidmouth

featuring red white and blue twisted ribbon canes

around a central 60 complex cane
(fig.54).
The

final royal event to be commemorated up to the
present time was the birth of Prince George of

Cambridge in July 2013. For this event we chose
another Govier’s exclusive from Caithness as
nothing in the Caithness range appealed and no

other manufacturers were tempted to produce
commemorative weights. No millefiori this time
but a frit-type weight with the design of a black

rocking horse set on a white frit-type base all set
on a blue and purple spatter ground. There is a

large front sloping facet to view the design and

on the facet is an engraved crown with gold paint

filling and the edition was limited to 100 weights

(fig.55).

As far as I am aware I have covered most of the

major royal events marked by the production of

weights from the various makers but collectors
should remember that companies like Caithness

Glass have made many weights as special orders

for various retailers and in some cases these have
marked some anniversaries that were ignored by

the makers themselves. One can speculate all day
as to what might be the next major royal-related
event but possibly the greater speculation will be

as to whether or not anyone will bother to
commemorate it.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

MEMBERS NEWS

A few memories
of the early days with Harvey Littleton

Introduction by Brian Clarke
HARVEY Littleton is internationally acclaimed and

recognised for his tireless work in founding as well

as promoting the American Studio Glass move-
ment. The movement was ‘born’ in 1962, during

two seminal glassblowing workshops at The Toledo
Museum of Art. The workshops were led by

Littleton, a Cranbrook-trained ceramist and professor
at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and

Dominick Labino, a glass research scientist at the
Johns-Manville plant near Toledo, Ohio. The aim of

the workshops was to introduce artists to the use

of hot glass as a material for contemporary art.
How did Littleton and Labino give artists access

to glass? Although artists were already fusing glass

in small studio kilns, hot glassworking techniques,
such as glassblowing, mouldblowing, and glass

sculpting, required factory facilities. Littleton and

Labino’s secret was a small furnace, which Labino
helped to develop, and a low temperature melting-

point glass, which Labino supplied. Littleton’s

impeccable organisation and marshalling of funds,

equipment and artists, as well as his profound belief
in the feasibility of studio glassblowing, ensured the
success of the workshops.

During the 1963 academic year, Littleton

introduced the first university programme for glass

in the United States at the University of Wisconsin

in Madison. The interest that he and his students

generated in glass was immediate, and Littleton

encouraged his graduating students to go out, find

academic employment, and start more glass
programmes.

One of those students, studio glass pioneer

Marvin Lipofsky, started glass programmes at the

University of California at Berkeley in 1964 and at

the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland

in 1967. Another student, the internationally-known

artist Dale Chihuly, went to study at the Rhode

Island School of Design after leaving Madison.

After graduating, he headed the glass department

there from 1969 to 1980. In a 1998 article on

Harvey Littleton by William Warmus for
GLASS

Quarterly
magazine, Dale Chihuly remembers:

Without a doubt, Harvey Littleton was the force
behind the studio glass movement; without

him my career wouldn’t exist. He pulled in
talented students and visiting artists; I used the

same concept when I taught [at the Rhode

Island School of Design]. Also, Harvey was a
big thinker – if he wanted a special piece of

equipment, he would spend the money;

he taught us to think big instead of thinking small.

Some of that rubbed off on me. And he
encouraged us to be unique – Harvey liked that.

With Littleton’s active encouragement and

promotion, glass programmes sprang up at

universities, art schools, and summer programmes
across the country during the late 1960s and early

1970s. From the 1970s through the 1980s, the

Studio Glass movement became an international

phenomenon. What began nearly 50 years ago as

a small group of artists who shared an unusual

interest has grown into an international community

of thousands.

Another of Littleton’s students, Sam

Herman, remembers his student days and

the beginning of his career in studio glass

NEEDLESS to say when Carol , Harvey’s daughter,

informed me of Harvey’s death many feelings and
thoughts passed through my mind. Harvey was

such a pivotal influence in my life, both in my career

and personally. Everyone knows that it was because

of Harvey’s efforts and enthusiasm that the Studio

Glass movement began in the 1960s. Very fortunately

I was among his very first students in Wisconsin.

I think it has been forgotten how little any of us

knew about glass, let alone how to work this

wonderful, sensuous material. Harvey’s enthusiasm

and guidance made it possible for the spirit of

cooperation and learning from each other to

flourish. We all helped each other, even to the point

where, when someone discovered a better way of

putting on a punty, this was shared among all the

students. In fact, the furnace that we all built (thanks

to Dominick Labino’s input) was utilised 24/7 and
once a week we would put all our work on a table;

if anyone had – and I do mean stumbled upon – a
particular technique, they would demonstrate it for

the rest of the class, including Harvey. He was very
generous to organise visits from people like Erwin

Eisch, Joel Myers, Sybren Valkema and others to

help inspire us in our own work. He also made
us aware of the history of glass from the Egyptians

and Romans onwards. I should add that Harvey
was in the same position as we were, but his

guidance was paramount to the success of the

Studio Glass movement.

Harvey was not just our teacher, he was our
friend. He would invite us to his farm

just outside Madison for barbeques,

horse riding and believe it or not

(as corny as it may sound) much

animated discussion about glass and
glass techniques. Beth, his wife, made

us all feel very much at home,
providing lovely meals while their

children ran around all over the place.

In fact, the first furnace after the Toledo
conference that Dominick Labino

pioneered was built and used in a

shed on Harvey’s farm.
Harvey assisted me in getting

scholarship aid at Wisconsin, without
Littleton at the 1962 Toledo Workshop.

which I would not have been able to finance my

education. I am very grateful to him for this among

the many other things.
Harvey had a wonderful knack for getting the

most out of people; sometimes he would achieve

this by gentleness and kindness and in some
individuals by antagonising them in such a way that

they were inspired to work harder. Not only did we
learn how to make furnaces, lehrs and other

equipment from scratch, and of course how to

work the glass, but Harvey also brought in the harsh

reality of business needed to maintain a glass

studio. For me Harvey, although he kept his

feelings very much to himself, was a very sensitive

individual and on several occasions remarks from

the students would hurt him considerably.

One of the many amusing incidents that

occurred in the early days was while we were

visiting Dominick Labino’s studio to see the work

that Dominick had been doing. Rodger Lang was
demonstrating his skills making a piece. Dominick

was standing on one side of me and Harvey was

standing on the other side. When it came to the

point when Rodger was going to transfer the piece

from the blow pipe to the punty he hit it too hard and

it went skittering across the floor. Rodger quickly

went to the furnace and got a small piece of molten
glass on his punty and picked the piece off the floor.

Harvey leaned across me and said to Dominick:
‘See I teach my boys how to pick their pieces off

the floor when they drop them’. Dominick leaned

towards Harvey and with a little wry smile on his

face said: ‘Harvey, why don’t you teach them not

to drop them in the first place?’.
As when I started, I can only close by saying that,

thanks to Harvey, there was not only enthusiasm
but a great willingness to share knowledge and help

one another. I feel honoured to have been lucky

enough to be part of the small group of early

pioneers with Harvey and proud to see how the

Studio Glass movement has grown in leaps and

bounds throughout the world from its modest, but

passionate, start in Wisconsin.

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

WHAT’S ON

Glass Association events
Glass at the V&A Study Session

Friday 4 July 2014
The Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington,

London SW7 2RL

THE V&A’s glass collection is the most
comprehensive in Europe. The collection has

expanded considerably since the opening of the

main Glass Gallery in 1994, with major additions
of British, continental, antipodean and, especially,

American glass art.
Your guides from The Ceramics & Glass

Department will be Reino Liefkes, Rebecca Wallis

& Sue Newell.

The cost is £12 per person for Glass Association
and Glass Circle members.

The cost for non-members is £17 per person.

Exhibitions
Emma Woffenden: Falling Hard

15 May- 21 June 2014

Tues-Fri 11-18; Sat 11-16
Marsden Woo Gallery, 17-18 Great Sutton Street,

London EC1V ODN

www.marsdenwoo.com

International Symposium of Engraved
Glass.

15-21 September 2014

THE 6th International Symposium of Engraved
Glass will be held in Kamenicky 8enov, Czech

Republic.

The tradition of thermal symposiums was
interrupted in 2011 due to uncertain situation of

the Glass School that has been an essential
partner of the symposiums since 1996. Thanks

to consolidation of the situation at the School and
support of the town Kamenicky 8enov, the 6th

year of the symposium will be again a meeting of

glass engravers, artists, students, experts and

enthusiasts.

The symposium will be followed by an optional

workshop School of Jiri Harcuba in Glass Work

Frantiek in Sazava. On 21 September morning a

bus transit of all interested participants and guests

will be provided as well as a guided tour of the

Centre including seeing a show of I.G.S. works

Whitefriars archive under the hammer

THE Fieldings ‘Centuries of Glass’ auction on
8 March 2014 contained a large assortment of

archive material from the Whitefriars factory. As
soon as the catalogue was published the message

spread among Whitefriars enthusiasts and as they

say: little acorns grow into mighty oak trees.
A group was formed to buy as many of the

important items as possible with a view to donating

them to a museum. A funding team and action
group headed by Chris Woolman of Hay Barn

Glass with a 10-day deadline got many Whitefriars

collectors to donate. The Glass Association and
and opening of the Jiri Harcuba exhibition.

Those who do not participate at the School of Jiri
Harcuba may return to Kamenicky 8enov by bus

on Sunday 21st. Information on the School of
Jiri

Harcuba is at website: www.cestyskla.cz

Organisers of the Symposium are: Association of

the Symposium of Engraved Glass, Town

Kamenicky 8enov, Glass Making School in

Kamenicky 8enov, Glass Museum of Kamenicky
enov, Czech Glass Society.

Jaroslav J. PolaneckY, Chairman of the

Association of the Symposium of Engraved Glass.

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.engravedglass.cz

Glass in the Garden

21 July-31 August/ £15 /Age 12+
THE Glass in the Garden project sees the National
Glass Centre and the Alnwick Garden recruit

1,000 participants between 21 July and 31 August,
to blow the 1,000 baubles required to create their

impressive glass Christmas tree, in time for the

installation in October 2014.

For £15 per person, each participant will be taught

by National Glass Centre’s skilled glassmakers –

how to form and shape the glass; apply colour and

pattern; and finally blow the glass into a beautiful

bauble.

All baubles will then be gathered together to create
the installation for public view at the Alnwick

Garden from October half-term.

Every contributor to this exciting initiative will
receive two free tickets to the Alnwick Garden

(worth £27.50) to see the thrilling result of their
hard work when it is installed.

To take part in this exciting opportunity, to learn a
new skill and be part of a large scale community

project, participants can book via National Glass
Centre on 0191 515 5555 (Option 9).

Announcing Dale Chihuly in Dublin with
two concurrent exhibitions

1)
Ulysses Cylinders by Dale Chihuly and Seaver

Leslie with Flora
C. Mace
and Joey Kirkpatrick

at the Coach House in Dublin Castle

2)
Chihuly at Solomon Fine Art

THE Irish public will have a unique opportunity to

see the work of one of the world’s most renowned

artists when two exhibitions open in Dublin on

19 June 2104.

The Friends of Broadfield House Glass Museum
were approached and made donations to the fund.
There was some intense bidding but the group

was able to purchase almost all of the lots that had

been selected by the action group. This included
the mould for the iconic suncatcher. As well as

this group other individuals bought and donated

items.
The items purchased have been donated to

Broadfield House Glass Museum and some of

them will be on display when they have been
conserved.
Dale Chihuly’s vibrant coloured glass installations

and opulent chandeliers hang in many of the

world’s most prestigious museums and public

spaces including the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre in

Paris and the Corning Museum of Glass

in New York.

A world premier of ‘Ulysses Cylinders’ inspired by
James Joyce’s
Ulysses,

opens in Dublin Castle on

19 June. This collaborative exhibition combines

the alchemic artistry of Dale Chihuly with painter

Seaver Leslie’s pen-and-ink drawings to create a

unique collection of golden glass Cylinders.

Chihuly’s and Leslie’s love of Ireland and Irish

literature inspired an eariier series Irish Cylinders
over forty years ago. The series was completed in

anticipation of a lecture tour in England and Ireland

focusing on the artwork’s literary connections.
As fate would have it, a devastating auto accident
in England a few weeks later prevented the artists

from reaching Ireland and left Chihuly blind in
one eye.

In the summer of 2013, Chihuly and Leslie,

together with Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick
decided to revisit this body of work focusing on
Joyce’s
Ulysses
as the sole inspiration. Working

with Leslie’s drawings on paper, artists Mace and

Kirkpatrick constructed fragile glass drawings,
which Chihuly’s team studio amalgamated into

individual Cylinders of glass wrapped in gold leaf.
Each drawing offers a visual trigger into selected

narratives of
Ulysses
as recounted by Joyce.

By applying Leslie’s adapted drawings to simple

cylindrical forms, Chihuly uses the Cylinder as a
canvas to create a series of visual portals into the

novel. This new work is a revelation in its simplicity,
which pays homage to an intricate narrative.

Simultaneously at the Solomon Fine Art a selection
of Chihuly’s signature artworks will be on view.

This enchanting and awe inspiring exhibition will be
open to the public from 19 June to 31 July.
•
The Ulysses Cylinders is open to the public

19 June-23 August 2014
•
The exhibition is installed in over 2,300 square

feet of the exhibition space in the Coach House at

Dublin Castle
•
There is a dedicated book being published with

essays by Irish writers

•
Chihuly will be in Ireland to celebrate both the

exhibition and a gallery show of his signature work

at Solomon Fine Art 15-20 June 2014

•
Chihuly at Solomon Fine Art is open to the public

19 June-31 July 2014
•
Chihuly and Leslie will present a public lecture,

followed by a conversation on
Ulysses,
chaired by

Dr Conor Farnan in George’s Hall at Dublin Castle
on 17 June, 6-7pm, followed by a public book
signing from 7 to 8pm.

Glass Artists Win Prestigious Glass Prize

THREE glass artists from across the globe have

been honoured in the Warm Glass UK Glass Prize
2014 on its tenth anniversary.

Leading glass art suppliers Warm Glass UK, based
in Wrington, North Somerset, invited entries from

glass artists with prizes for ‘Bullseye Glass Artists’,
‘Bullseye Glass Schools’ and ‘Other Glass’

categories.

MEMBERS NEWS

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

WHAT’S ON

The winner of the highly prestigious ‘Bullseye
Glass Artists’ prize 2014 is Marina Hanser, an

emerging glass artist who although originally from

Austria, is currently finishing her Honours Degree
at the Australian National University, Canberra and
will be graduating in June.

Marina’s piece ‘Below Skin Deep’ is inspired by
notions of physical and psychological wounds and
scars, caused by emotional trauma such as grief

and bereavement. Glass is an essential material for

her work as it can be wounded much like human
skin. In this body of work, she uses its transparent

and translucent qualities to reveal what distress

lies within. Starting from physically roughed and
ground surfaces, carved voids are filled with a
paste of finely-ground glass and the heat of the kiln

is used to restore the surface.

She said: ‘I am very honoured and excited that my
work has been chosen as this year’s Bullseye

Glass Artists winner, especially at this early stage
of my career and I am looking forward to the

experience and opportunity to attend the BECon

conference in 2015. I would like to thank Warm

Glass UK and Bullseye Glass for offering this

amazing opportunity, and the Glass Workshop
(Australian National University) for all their support

and encouragement’.

When announcing their decision, lead judge Lani
MacGregor said: ‘This year was probably the most

challenging to date partially because the quality of

work continues to escalate’. Choosing one winner

was clearly very difficult so the panel also made
‘Honorable Mentions’ to two additional artists:

Jenny Trinks and Joshua Hershman for the high

standard of their pieces.

This year, the ‘Bullseye Glass Schools’ category
was introduced in response to the huge growth

in glass casting and fusing classes being taught

throughout the UK. Warm Glass supply over 400
schools and colleges and are the leading supplier

of materials to teachers within the school

curriculum. The inaugural winner of this category
is 16-year-old Alex Barlow from The King’s School,

Macclesfield with his piece
Retro Gaming
which is

a quirky representation of an old computer game,

formed by bending Bullseye Glass stringers over

a candle flame to form the shapes of characters

from his studies.

Alex’s prize is a Paragon Bench Top kiln, starter kit
and glass worth about £1,000 for his school,

donated by Bullseye Glass Co.

The final category was for ‘Other Glass’ and was
open to all glass artists, regardless of the type of
glass they work with. A jury selected five of the

best pieces from the 88 entries which were then
voted on by the public to select Chicago-based

artist Paul Messink’s piece
Gnarled Sentinels
as

the winner with 30% of the vote. Paul creates

hand-painted multi-layered glass panels that

exhibit nature in deep dimension, typically using
9-12 layers of glass which are then kiln-cast into

a solid panel after all the layers are complete.

Pippa Bluck, Warm Glass UK director said: ‘We are delighted to showcase some of the amazing
work that contemporary glass artists around the

world are producing and it is very exciting for us to

see how the standard of work increases each year.
We are pleased that, in conjunction with Bullseye

Glass Co, we can continue to offer a platform for

Glass Artists to display their work to a wider

audience. Marina, Alex and Paul all created
fantastic work and we hope they enjoy their prizes’.

Full details of the competition and all entries can be
viewed at www.theglassprize.co.uk

International Print Biennale 2014

27 June – 9 August 2014
National Glass Centre announce International

Print Biennale 2014 residency.
JULIE Roch-Cuerrier has been announced as the

first prizewinner in this years’ International Print

Biennale and has taken up a ten-day residency
at National Glass Centre. This residency with

National Glass Centre will provide an opportunity

to explore the potential of printing on glass.

Julie Roch-Cuerrier is an emerging Montreal-

based artist working in the field of printmaking.

Recently graduated from London’s Sotheby’s

Institute of Art where she studied Art Business,

she also completed her Fine Arts Bachelor course

at Concordia University. She now lives in London

and studies at the Royal College of Art for her Fine

Arts Master’s degree in Printmaking.

The 2014 International Print Awards are the

centrepiece of the International Print Biennale.

The Awards are an open submission opportunity
for British and international artists and are open to

all artists whose work encounters print.

The National Glass Centre Residency offers an

opportunity for an artist to develop and expand

their practice by exploring techniques in glass and

print supported by specialist staff using National
Glass Centre’s extensive production facilities

(i.e. screenprinting, kiln-forming, waterjet cutting,
vinyl cutting and sandblasting). The residency

took place between 29 April and 9 May 2013.

This prize includes travel within the UK,
accommodation, a materials allowance and an

exhibition at National Glass Centre of work made
during the residency.

Julie Roch-Cuerrier’s residency will develop work
that will be exhibited at National Glass Centre as

part of the International Print Biennale.

Her exhibition at National Glass Centre opens on
21 June 2014.

Julie notes that she is looking forward to starting

her residency: ‘A lot of my works have come to

develop signatures in time; in the sense that

I would have never produced them in other

circumstances. In those moments when you

operate out of your comfort zone, when you push
your work into new territories, that is when you

create the most interesting things. That is why I am

really looking forward to coming to National Glass

Centre and learning something completely new’.

Over the last year, I have been working on a

research project on the impression of world maps.

I have been sanding off maps of old atlases and

researching ways to create ink incorporating the
collected world dust. I am interested in the

potential and the implications behind the material.

There is something beautiful about the subtleties
of those colours and what they mean; historical

and metaphysical ideas are retained in this dust.
I thought it would be interesting to bridge the

weight and the saturation embedded in this

material with the seemingly flawless and pure

quality of the glass.’

Julia Stephenson, Head of Arts, National Glass

Centre adds: ‘We are really excited about the

International Print Biennale residency and the work
it will produce. National Glass Centre has state

of the art facilities for working in glass. The

relationship between the two processes of glass

and print is an interesting one with historic

connections to etching – etching glass and etching

metal places to print form. Beyond this there are

opportunities to work with laser-cutting and digital

printing. Both are areas of creative expression
which rely upon traditional and new processes and

offer interesting areas of exploration for artists.

We are confident Julie’s resulting work will create a
unique and engaging exhibition for all our visitors.’

Visit the website to find out more:

www.internationalprintbiennale.org.uk

The Contemporary Glass Society and
National Glass Centre announce artists

for a new showcase for contemporary

glass

A special display case at National Glass Centre will
be dedicated to a year-long display of a wide

variety of glass made by members of the

Contemporary Glass Society from Spring 2014.

A team from the Centre and the CGS have now
selected the first artists. The work ranges from

elegant functional tableware to vibrant sculptural
pieces. Each one is unique and they are all

available for sale – a fantastic opportunity to own a

piece of handcrafted contemporary glass by both

well known and up and coming makers. You can

see their work according to the following schedule:

2 May – 12 June:

Catherine Keenan and Unclean Mill Glass
14 June- 24 July:

Rachel Elliott and Stewart Hearn
25 July – 4 Sept:

Crispin Heath and Ingrid Hunter-Coddington
6 Sept -16 Oct:

Keeryong Choi and Cathryn Shilling

18 Oct – 27 Nov:

Scott Benefield and Jonathan Harris

29 Nov – 8 Jan 2015:

Max Lamb and Philippa Beveridge

A further four artists will be selected later in the

year for display during 2015.

Glassac 14
Durham & York

Wednesday 10 September 2014 (all day) to

Saturday 13. September 2014 (all day)
University of Durham. www.glassac14.sgt.org

National Glass Fairf

Sunday 23 November 2014:10:30
-16.00

National Motorcycle Museum, B92 OEJ

– M42 Jot 6 (A45). [email protected]

Always look at the Glass Association
website for further detasils of events and

news: www.glassassociation.org.uk

THE GLASS CONE NO.105 MAY 2014

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION
www.glassassociation.org.uk

PROMOTING THE UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION OF GLASS

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