Glass post-1880

The main driver of innovation in Dutch glassmaking in the early twentieth century was the Leerdam Glass Factory, which in 1915 became one of the first in the Netherlands to start collaborating with artists. The company focused not only on decorative glass, but also on cheap and aesthetically pleasing domestic glassware. Many architects, designers and artists produced designs for the factory, including Karel de Bazel, Hendrik Berlage and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1924 one of the company’s staff, Andries Copier (1901-1991), began producing unique art objects in glass, known as Unica.

In the 1960s artists could experimenting with glass independently of the glass industry, thanks to the invention of a small furnace that could be used in the studio. And so studio glass was born. Kunstmuseum Den Haag has a collection of studio glass, mainly from the Netherlands, including objects by pioneering glass artists from the 1970s to the present day. Italy and the Czech Republic, two countries with centuries of glassmaking tradition, are also well represented in the collection.

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