Art Glass
Colour, craft and the magic of molten glass
There is something rather special about art glass.
Unlike pottery, which reveals itself largely through shape, colour and surface, glass also plays with light. Colours change as daylight moves through a piece. Bubbles, layers and inclusions appear and disappear. A vase that looks almost black on a shelf can suddenly glow jewel-red when held to a window.
Perhaps that's why we find it so difficult to walk past an interesting piece.
Art glass encompasses an enormous range of decorative glass created with an emphasis on design, craftsmanship and artistic expression. It can be made by an individual studio artist or produced by skilled glassmakers working with a designer in an established glasshouse.
The V&A's collection reflects just how broad the field is, encompassing vessel and art glass from Britain and Europe through to contemporary studio glass from around the world.
For Three Craws, our particular interest lies in the wonderfully creative glass produced across Britain and Europe during the 20th century, together with contemporary pieces that continue those traditions.
From factory to artist's studio
For much of glassmaking history, creating glass required a substantial factory, furnace and team of skilled workers.
That began to change dramatically during the 1960s.
In America, Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino developed a small furnace and glass formula in 1962 that allowed artists to work with hot glass independently of large factories. This helped launch what became known as the Studio Glass Movement, which subsequently spread internationally.
It changed the relationship between artist and material.
Glass was no longer simply something an artist designed on paper for factory craftsmen to execute. Increasingly, artists could work directly with molten glass themselves — experimenting, improvising and allowing the material to influence the finished object.
At the same time, established European glasshouses were producing some extraordinary work of their own.
And that's where collecting becomes interesting.
Britain – Whitefriars and a new post-war look
One of the great names in British glass is Whitefriars.
Its history stretches back centuries. The glassworks associated with James Powell & Sons had occupied its London site from 1680 before moving to Wealdstone in 1923. In 1962 the company was renamed Whitefriars Glass Limited, and the familiar stylised friar trademark followed the next year.
For collectors of post-war glass, Whitefriars is particularly associated with adventurous colour and heavily textured forms.
Today those designs can look extraordinarily contemporary.
Whitefriars finally closed in 1980, ending around 300 years of glassmaking history.
That finite production history is one reason original Whitefriars glass remains such an established collecting field.
Scotland – Monart, Strathearn and Caithness
Scotland has its own fascinating glass story.
One of its most important names is Monart, associated with Salvador Ysart and his family. Monart glass was produced at John Moncrieff & Co's North British Glassworks in Perth, with pieces dating from the inter-war period displaying the wonderful colour, inclusions and organic effects that would become characteristic of Scottish art glass. The V&A holds Monart examples designed by Salvador Ysart dating from around 1924–1939.
The Ysart family's influence continued into later Scottish glassmaking, including Vasart and Strathearn.
For collectors, Scottish glass can be particularly enjoyable because pieces range from richly coloured bowls and vases to sculptural forms and paperweights.
Then there is Caithness, another name closely associated with Scottish decorative glass and particularly famous for its paperweights.
It's an area we particularly enjoy exploring at Three Craws — perhaps inevitably, given our own Scottish roots.
Malta – the extraordinary story of Mdina
One of the most recognisable names in post-war European art glass is Mdina Glass.
Its furnaces were first fired in 1968, with production beginning in June of that year. British founders Michael Harris and Eric Dobson moved to Malta with the ambition of establishing a glassmaking company, creating the island's first producer of handmade glassware.
Experienced glassmakers including Vicente and Ettore Boffo joined them, while Maltese craftspeople were trained in the new workshop. One early trainee, Joseph Said, would eventually become the company's first Maltese production manager in 1975.
Mdina became known for gloriously fluid forms and colours inspired by Malta and the Mediterranean — sea blues, sandy ochres, browns and greens flowing through heavy clear glass.
And wonderfully, Mdina Glass still produces handmade glass in Malta today.
For collectors, early Mdina and Michael Harris-era pieces can be particularly interesting, but later pieces can be beautiful objects in their own right.
Italy – Murano and Empoli
Italian glass presents both wonderful opportunities and one of the greatest attribution traps for collectors.
Murano
The Venetian island of Murano has been associated with exceptional glassmaking for centuries.
Its glassmakers developed and refined an extraordinary vocabulary of decorative techniques, including aventurine, in which metallic inclusions create a glittering effect within the glass. The V&A traces the accidental development of aventurine to a Muranese glassmaker in the early 16th century.
Twentieth-century Murano combined these traditional skills with modern design, creating everything from restrained sculptural vessels to gloriously extravagant colour and form.
But there is an important collecting lesson here:
Italian-looking glass is not automatically Murano glass.
Without a reliable label, signature, documented form or other supporting evidence, we're cautious about attaching the Murano name to a piece.
Empoli
Around 200 kilometres away, Empoli in Tuscany developed another important glassmaking tradition.
Glassmaking there can be traced back to the 15th century, with the industry expanding significantly from the late 18th and 19th centuries. For generations, glassworks and glassworkers became an integral part of the identity of the town.
For many collectors today, “Empoli glass” evokes the tall, wonderfully decorative coloured bottles, decanters and vases popular during the mid-20th century.
These can be spectacular decorative objects.
Again, though, Empoli describes a place and glassmaking tradition rather than one individual factory, so attribution deserves care.
Scandinavia – restraint, colour and exceptional design
Travel north and the character changes again.
Swedish glass in particular developed an international reputation for combining artistic design with extraordinary technical skill.
Orrefors has been making glass since 1898. Artists Simon Gate and Edward Hald helped transform its artistic direction during the early 20th century, and Orrefors gained international recognition at the 1925 Paris exhibition.
Kosta, meanwhile, traces its history all the way back to 1742, making it Sweden's oldest active glassworks. The modern Kosta Boda identity emerged from the combination of the Kosta, Boda and Åfors glassworks.
Scandinavian glass can range from restrained clear crystal to wonderfully expressive coloured vessels and sculptural pieces.
For us, it's another reminder that mid-century doesn't describe one single look.
Czech and Bohemian glass
The Czech lands have one of Europe's richest glassmaking traditions.
For collectors of mid-century design, Czech glass can be particularly exciting because designers and glassworks embraced wonderfully sculptural forms, rich colour and technically ambitious production.
Names such as Josef Hospodka, associated particularly with the Chribská glassworks, are now increasingly recognised by collectors of post-war European design.
Heavy pulled forms, dramatic colour combinations and organic shapes make Czech glass particularly easy to fall for.
It is also another field where attribution can be complicated. Pieces were not always signed, and similar forms were sometimes produced by different factories.
So again, documentation matters.
A little glass vocabulary
Part of the fun of collecting art glass is learning how it was made.
Hand blown – molten glass is gathered onto a blowpipe and inflated and shaped by the glassmaker.
Cased glass – layers of differently coloured or clear glass are combined, creating depth and often dramatic colour effects.
Sommerso – literally “submerged” in Italian; coloured glass is encased within layers of clear or differently coloured glass, particularly associated with Venetian production.
Aventurine – glass containing sparkling metallic inclusions, a technique with deep roots in Murano glassmaking.
Controlled bubbles – air bubbles deliberately arranged within the glass as part of the decoration.
Applied glass – additional molten glass is attached to the main body to form handles, trails, feet or decorative elements.
Pontil mark – evidence on the base of where a piece was attached to a pontil rod during hand finishing.
And one important point:
A pontil mark doesn't automatically make a piece rare, old or valuable.
It tells us something about how the piece was made — not necessarily who made it.
A short art glass timeline
1920s–30s — Art and industry meet
Designers increasingly collaborate with established European glassworks, while Scottish Monart and Scandinavian makers explore colour and artistic vessel forms.
1950s — Post-war modernism
European glassmakers embrace cleaner forms, bold colour and new approaches to decorative glass.
1960s — A creative explosion
The international Studio Glass Movement begins, while established factories and new workshops experiment increasingly with sculptural form and colour.
1968 — Mdina Glass
Michael Harris and Eric Dobson fire the first furnaces at Mdina Glass in Malta.
1970s — Art glass enters the modern home
Sculptural glass, oversized decorative vessels, textured surfaces and vivid colour become an increasingly important part of contemporary interiors.
1980 — Whitefriars closes
One of Britain's most important historic glassmakers finally shuts its doors.
Today — A living craft
Studio artists and historic glassmakers continue to work with hot glass. Mdina, Orrefors and Kosta are among the names whose stories continue rather than simply belonging to the past.
How do we identify art glass?
Sometimes the answer is easy.
A surviving factory label, etched signature or clearly documented design can identify a piece with confidence.
Sometimes it isn't easy at all.
When researching an unsigned piece, we look at a combination of clues:
form • colour • weight • glass technique • base finish • pontil • labels • signatures • documented designs
None should necessarily be considered in isolation.
The internet has also made attribution simultaneously easier and more dangerous.
One incorrectly attributed vase gets copied by another seller, then another, until eventually a guess begins to look like established fact.
So at Three Craws, we'd rather say:
“Mid-century European art glass – maker unknown”
than confidently attach a famous name to something when the evidence isn't there.
Mystery doesn't stop a beautiful object being beautiful.
What makes art glass collectable?
There isn't one magic ingredient.
Maker and designer can be extremely important, particularly when a piece can be firmly attributed.
Rarity matters, but so does desirability. Something can be rare simply because nobody wanted very many in the first place.
Colour can have an enormous influence, with certain colourways particularly sought after.
Size and form matter too. A dramatic sculptural vase may have much greater decorative appeal than a more ordinary production piece.
Condition is important, particularly chips to rims and bases, cracks and significant scratching.
And finally there is something rather less scientific:
Does it look fabulous?
Because ultimately art glass was created to be seen.
Condition – and the odd bubble
Handmade glass often carries evidence of how it was made.
Small bubbles, tooling marks, variations in thickness and slight irregularities can all occur during production.
They shouldn't automatically be confused with damage.
Conversely, chips, bruises, cracks, significant scratches and polished repairs are genuine condition issues and should be disclosed.
At Three Craws, we'll describe what we can see and photograph important condition points as clearly as possible.
Why the Craws love Art Glass
Perhaps more than any other material we collect, art glass changes with its surroundings.
Light passes through it. Colours deepen. Reflections move. A piece can look completely different in morning sunlight than it does on a shelf in the evening.
And the variety is extraordinary.
A heavy piece of Scottish glass.
The swirling Mediterranean colours of Mdina.
A beautifully restrained Scandinavian vase.
A gloriously flamboyant piece of Italian glass.
Or an unsigned piece whose maker remains stubbornly mysterious but which is simply too good to leave behind.
At Three Craws Collectables, we aren't looking for one particular country, maker or period.
We're looking for great colour, interesting form, craftsmanship and pieces with presence.
Sometimes we know exactly who made them.
Sometimes there's a little detective work involved.
And occasionally, a Craw simply refuses to leave one behind.