Mdina bottle vase and stopper.

Some time ago I did a blogpost on a couple of Mdina vases. Remember this: Mdina vases

I said then that I'd try to show some more Mdina. Well, better late than never.

This Mdina bottle vase and stopper has been in the Potshots collection for a quite a while now so, as I was photographing some items of glassware the other day, I decided to do a quick shot of it for the blog-site. I'm glad I did because the shot turned out quite well. It's probably because the colours in the glass are so good and the shape is so well proportioned. I specially like the flattened out top on the neck of the vase. And those swirls of colour in the body of the glass.

I would guess the vase dates from the 1970s.

Murano faceted vases c.1970s.

Italy again. This time in the form of some crisp glassware.

These vibrant, geometric vases are from Murano. They are probably by the Mandruzzato glass works and I think they were made in the early 1970s. Eye-catching they are too, with cased layers of red, gold and clear glass. The polished, faceted surfaces give a cold, hard feel and an ultra-modern look of purity.

Although Murano faceted vases were made in various colours, I particularly like these bright red examples.

There's lots more information on faceted glassware (and other 20th Century glass) here: Mandruzzato glass

Barovier & Toso Murano glass. Gold and silver to Italy

If there were Olympic medals for glitzy glass, Italy would win gold and silver with these flashy glass creations.

These eye-catching glass forms are by Italian makers, Barovier and Toso. And when it comes to making glass, they've been at it a good while: Barovier founded in 1295.

The large vase in the top picture is a wonderful deep red colour and has gold leaf crackle inclusions. The smaller bowl again is in red but this example has silver inclusions. I have an idea they date from the 1950s. I particularly like the flowing lines and wavy edges.

Barovier and Toso are still going strong today and have a smart website here: Barovier & Toso

Whitefriars glass at its bobbly best.

Joy of joys. I was lucky enough to find another knobbly vase to add to my slowly growing collection of coloured cased glass. I rescued the tall kingfisher blue vase from a second-hand shop earlier this week.

I say 'vase' but since I started to research this type of glassware, I have seen this tall, slim shape described as a lamp base. I'm fairly sure that all three of these glass beauties are by Whitefriars and are from a range designed by William Wilson and Harry Dyer in 1963. Known, for obvious reasons, as the Knobbly range, they were in production between 1964 and 1972. The Whitefriars Knobbly vases and lamp bases were made in a range of plain cased colours, like these, and also in a range of attractive streaky colours.

The vases are satisfyingly heavy and are as good to handle as they are to look at. All the surfaces are irregular, randomly bobbled and are silky smooth to touch. Even the neck openings are rounded and smoothed off. This type of vase must be a dream for interior decorators – they look so good in almost any setting. I particularly like the way you get a glimpse of the clear glass at the base and at the edges. And when you get a couple of different colours together, the effect can be quite stunning....

Textured vase by Geoffrey Baxter for Whitefriars

And here's another tangerine beauty that perhaps deserves a blog-post to itself.

This fine example of 1960s/1970s Whitefriars glass has a wonderful shape, colour and texture. The shouldered neck that mirrors the foot at the base, the vibrant orange colour and the concentric rectangular pattern with the bobbly surface texture give this vase real style. Bright, bold and solid.

The vase is known by Whitefriars collectors as the 'TV' vase but I'm not sure why. Designed by Geoffrey Baxter, this shape of vase was in production from around 1967 to roughly 1973. As well as being made in a range of bright colours – Tangerine, Kingfisher Blue, Meadow Green – there were also TV vases made in more subtle, natural shades, such as Pewter Grey.

There's a lovely Kingfisher Blue example in the Bristol Blue Glass Museum, you can see it here: Blue Whitefriars vase

Whitefriars glass. A tangerine dream.

How about a burst of colour to kick off the new year? And these three small glass vases certainly give us that.

These smart, chunky vases are by Whitefriars and all date from the early 1970s. Not only do the vases have the intensity of that wonderful deep orange colour, they also have such nice surface textures. The square vase has a raised spiral decoration, known as Greek Key, the bulb-shaped vase (known as the Onion vase, I think) is covered in large impressed blobs, and the taller vase has a lovely tactile 'tree bark' surface. The orange colour is known as Tangerine by Whitefriars collectors – and, not surprisingly, there are quite a few of those. There's an excellent collectors site with lots of information on Whitefriars glass, here: Whitefriars collectors site

I can see why Whitefriars glass is as popular as it is. If these three small vases look so good displayed together, you can imagine what impact a couple of large pieces would have.

P.S. If, because of my title, you accidentally arrived here expecting to find something on Tangerine Dream, the mighty fine German electronic music group, my apologies. You could try here: Tangerine Dream official website
 

Mdina glass vases

I seem to have strayed off into glass recently, so I thought I'd continue the theme with this quick blogpost on a couple of Mdina vases.

I occasionally come across Mdina glass on my travels, some of it is little bit ordinary but some of it looks quite good. I like the vases with simple shapes best. I think the flat tops on the necks of these two vases are a nice touch. The green and sand colour scheme seems to be very typical but I also like the more subtle, simplified colour scheme of the larger vase.

I have some more Mdina vases and hope to do a blogpost on them sometime soon.

Mdina glass was produced in Malts. I would say these vases date from the mid-1970s.

Scandinavian glass vases. Easy on the eye.

I found a couple of coloured glass vases recently. I was attracted by the simple design and softly curved shapes.They were very reasonably priced so, even though I didn't know who they were by at the time, I decided to buy them.
The vases look good on display. It was only later that I did some research on the vases and discovered that they are Scandinavian. From Finland, actually. The vases were made by the Riihimaki or Riihimaen glassworks, I would think in the 1970s. I'm not certain but I think they may have been designed by Tamara Aladin.

I have a feeling that, now I have these two, I'll have to add more – if I can find any.

Vintage Boda bowl. Colourful handmade glass from Sweden

I found a smart little bowl at the weekend. This small glass bowl is beautifully decorated with a swirl of white, yellow, and red colouring.

I wouldn't think the bowl has much age to it but it is good looking enough to deserve a place on the Potshots shelf. There's a small silver sticker for Boda, Sweden and the base is engraved Boda. There is also a signature on the base that looks like 'Ulrica'. Could this be for Ulrica Hydman-Vallien perhaps? I hope so.

More information on Ulrica Hydman-Vallien: Ulrica and Boda glass