Vintage Art Glass

The 1950s and 60s were the finest period of European art glass. Glassworks that had previously made mainly utility glass hired designers and gave them freedom to experiment with colour, wall thickness and techniques of decoration within the glass. In Sweden, Orrefors developed the graal (from 1916) and ariel (from 1937) techniques; in Czechoslovakia, art glass became the country’s calling card – at the Expo 58 world’s fair in Brussels the Czechoslovak pavilion won the highest honours. In Poland, new designs emerged at the glassworks in Ząbkowice, Krosno and Lower Silesia.

This glass is bought for its form and colour, but also for its history: every good piece has an identifiable glassworks, and often a designer’s name too.

The Czech lands have one of the oldest glassmaking traditions in Europe. This collection includes works by František Zemek from the Mstišov glassworks (Sklárna Mstišov) and Josef Hospodka from Chřibská (Chribska). Czech glass from the 1960s is often coloured in the mass, thick-walled and sculptural in form.

The Orrefors and Kosta Boda glassworks lie in Småland, in the region known as the Kingdom of Crystal; Kosta has been operating since 1742. The collection includes works by Sven Palmqvist, Göran Wärff, Asta Strömberg, Anna Ehrner and Jan Johansson.

Murano, an island in the Venetian lagoon, has been a glassmaking centre since the 13th century. Sommerso is the technique of casing several layers of coloured glass one inside another – in cross-section, distinct bands of colour are visible; it was popularised on Murano in the 1950s and 60s. Polish art glass of the period is above all the work of Jan Sylwester Drost for the Ząbkowice glassworks and Zbigniew Horbowy for the Lower Silesian glassworks.