MAGNIFICENT 70s CZECH ART GLASS ASHTRAY, DESIGN: SKRDLOVICE GLASS (1973) BY PROF JAROSLAV SVOBODA

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A MAGNIFICENT, SOLID THICK-WALLED ASHTRAY, DESIGNED BY THE FAMOUS PROF JAROSLAV SVOBODA FOR SKRDLOVICE GLASS WORKS IN 1973 (PATTERN 7303)

Prof Jaroslav Svoboda was selected in 1969 to manage at Skrdlovice. A passionate enthusiast for the production of artistic glass, and a prolific and talented designer himself, Svoboda was in charge as director and designer for 17 years. His tenure saw the factory with a number of leading glass designers, such as the revered Frantisek Vizner. Arguably, the factory saw its 'golden age' during this period in terms of sales, variety and quality of designs.

Škrdlovice is one of the 20th centurys greatest forgotten glass companies. For decades, the company was hidden from the world behind the Iron Curtain, and the major contribution it made to 20thC glass design is only now being uncovered and reappraised by design historians and collectors. Founded in 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, by the enterprising and talented glassmaster Emanuel Beránek, the companys earliest designs were produced using waste broken glass, peat to fire the furnaces - and a huge amount of raw talent and sheer determination.

'Beránek Glass' was nationalised during communist rule in 1948 and became Škrdlovice glassworks. Ownership was returned to the Beránek family in 1992 when it became Beránek Glass again.Against all odds, the company survived and flourished under Communist rule in the 1950s & 60s, exporting its vast and diverse range of colourful, curving glass across the world as far as Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia.

From the 1950s until its demise in 2008, nearly every one of Czechoslovakias best and more influential glass designers worked with them including now globally revered names such as František Vízner. Designs were varied and absorbed influences from now well-known mid-century modern glass produced in Scandinavia and on the Italian island of Murano. Like the glass produced in Britain at the time by companies such as Whitefriars, Czech designers did not merely copy but added a strong Czech twist to develop their own highly recognizable look. Further experimentation from the 1950s onwards used a rainbow of colours and a breath-taking array of ever more complex techniques to create truly world class designs.

The factory closed in 2008 and no longer exists : with armies of collectors internationally now snapping up the magnificent items of innovative design produced by them, their high quality art glass is rapidly becoming harder to find and more collectable by the day.

DETAILS

- Height : 82 mm / Diameter : 130 mm / Weight : a heavy kg 1,766 kg

- A vintage item in good condition - with age-related wear on its base.

- Shipping costs are R120 via PostNet (South Africa only)

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This magnificent item is original, hand-made Czech art glass (and not Italian Murano, Daum, Kosta Boda, Flygfors, Orrefors, Swarovski, Leerdam, Val St Lambert, Whitefriars or Lalique studio glass). I personally sourced this beauty from the Czech Republic for my own, private collection many moons ago. Sadly, with retirement now on the horizon, I am compelled to make space and I sincerely hope that it will bring its new owner much joy! XKOST