Studio Glass

Since the late 19th century, glass has been widely used as an artistic medium and studios, such as Lalique, Tiffany, and Daum, have taken glass art to the highest levels. René Lalique began his career as a jeweler in Paris before opening his first glassworks in 1909. He perfected cost-effective methods of molding relief-figured designs in glass as he wanted his work to be affordable. His stylized motifs reflected the Art Deco style of the period and his reputation as a creative genius in glass was sealed at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Lalique designed vases, bowls, light fittings, and car mascots. He also cast glass in sculptural form, notably statuettes of nudes and veiled dancers. René’s son, Marc, played an important part in the manufacturing side of the business and took over after his father’s death in 1945.

Art on Fire

During the 1960s, industrial glassblowers began to turn their attention to different styles of studio glass. Paul Stankard, a skilled scientific glassblower, created paperweights encasing intricate studies of his local flora produced with a flame-worker’s torch. Professor Harvey Littleton discovered that glass could be melted and annealed in small studio furnaces and a single artist could design and produce artworks without the need for numerous assistants and large quantities of materials.  Littleton set up a pioneering glass-blowing workshop in Ohio, which led to the first University glass program in Wisconsin. This was the beginning of the American Studio Glass movement, which is now an international phenomenon with thousands of talented artists working with hot glass, including William Morris, Stephen Rolfe Powell, Lino Tagliopietra, and Toots Zynsky.

Chihuly Glass