Posted 10 years ago
austrohung…
(584 items)
Sadly this isn't one of the originals, but I still think it's quite a cute thing.
This hedgehog set of ashtrays was designed in the late 1950s, once Bosse had left Austria and moved into Germany. It was quite a revolutionary design and became very popular worldwide. As they say at the modernviennabronze website, "He was not able to even keep up with all the international orders and looked for partners to perform the casting on his behalf. Some foundries used his moulds and masters without discretion and sold models illicitly without his knowledge. Meanwhile, many thousands of copies based on Bosse’s design were being produced and sold throughout the world. The Russian airline Aeroflot even produced a set as a gift given to their frequent flyers. Copies were made in Spain, Greece, England, Austria and Germany. Bosse knew about this, but he kept on selling his hedgehogs at the Frankfurt International Fair for many years. Interestingly enough, Bosse’s hedgehogs could have made him a millionaire: Woolworth offered Bosse a several million dollar contract for the copyright of the ashtray set but Bosse would not agree. He feared that with mass-production, the hedgehogs would lose the charm and quality of his originals. Bosse spent most of his later years fighting copyright cases for his items, mostly over this set of hedgehog trays and hand-shaped ashtrays. They were among his most prolifically stolen designs. Unfortunately, he was not able to benefit from the court’s decision. Bosse died soon after the courts decision to award him copyright of his items. His was the first decision of its kind and a landmark case that would live on and benefit all arts and crafts makers and designers from that point forward".
Well this text, and all the hints to identify a true Walter Bosse hedgehog you can find here:
dihttp://www.modernviennabronze.com/walter-bosse-news/authenticating-your-walter-bosse-hedgehog-ashtrays-how-to-spot-the-differences
According to the website, this is one of the Russian copies.
Just so clever!
Hedgehogs were very modernist!
internal externality!
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=fNwn81PAzpUC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=hedgehog+modernism&source=bl&ots=58nj2FExuJ&sig=9x0sXEcHjH3NUzHfz9HvOjTlUGg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iapsU7rtJcPgkAX-4IHACw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=hedgehog%20modernism&f=false
beautiful!!
Thanks vet, sean, racer and mike fot your love!!
They were, Vet! I had a VERY beautiful wooden toothpic holder I gave as a present to my ex... I wish I had it now!
Your very welcome austro :) very nice write up as well :)
Thanks Amber!!!! :)
Thanks Hunter, agh, Belltown and Violet for your love!!!!!
Thanks Galejk!!!
love the history lesson!!! thanks so much for the information.
Very unique ashtray design abd great background , I am just wondering how many cigarettes fit in all those slots wow. He is wonderful just like you austro :-)
Mani!!! You'll make me blush!!! :$
The complete hedgehog consists of 6 ashtrays... I guess they're intended for individual use, except for maybe the big one and, of course, the smallest one, which is really fit for nothing... but it is oh! so cute :)
Thanks so much for your love nd the very nice comment!
Thanks for your love, GlueChip!
Thanks sklo and fran for loving it!
It's great to see this version of the HEDGEHOG too !!!!
These are just ingenious design, what else, stunning ;-/)
Alan
Great post. The hedgehogs were intended to hand out at parties to friends so everyone could have an individual ashtray to use, back when people used to do things like that. Classy right? The littlest hedgehog was used as a "gluttöter" which roughly translates to something like "cigarette extinguisher." So you'd use it to put out the end of your cigarette.
It's interesting to note that there are more fake Russian sets out on the market than real sets so you will most likely come across them more often. Just keep in mind, this proliferation of fakes ended up harming Bosse's business and hurt him personally during his lifetime, so much so that he died in poverty.