Posted 12 years ago
cobaltcobold
(62 items)
Gral Glas is a long defunct glas factory in Germany, which in the fifties Seventies had designs in a quality which I would not hesitate to compare to Iittala or Holmegaard. Some fo the most interesting German designers of this time worked for them. They are nearly forgotten, even in Germany. I don't know anything about Josef Stadler, he doesn't even have a Wikipedia article (I'll do research and try to do it). His designs are from the Fifties and Sixties and I love his soft and elegant forms and his very subtle sense for proportions. This jar stands 30 cm high. The photgraph can't show the beautiful colour gradient. The blue becomes more intense in direction to the aperture. There was a Gral Glas exhibtion in Munich (and Dusseldorf before that)
http://www.pinakothek.de/kalender/2011-07-01/13984/gralglas-1930-1981-ein-beispiel-des-deutschen-designs
last year. I just discovered this issue for me and regret to have missed it.
@scandinavian_pieces Thank you so much for being curious. Yes, there is the "Glasmuseum Hentrich" which is a part of the very big and serious Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf. Here is the link
http://www.smkp.de/sammlungen/glas/einfuehrung.html
They published also a catalogue about Gral Glas (they write it in one word, Gralglas). They did also a very beautiful exhibition about the Wiesenthalhuette and the work of Klaus Breit. I am also a fan of him and will post some pieces.
It's Gral Glas. I don't know Grail-Glashütte. Wiesenthal is another factory which was active in the same time, after the war and until 1989.
Okay, yes, that'it. Josef Stadler, but that's more or less all. For me all this is new, too. But collecting is also good for learning. I'll keep you informed.
Check out these examples on picasa:
https://picasaweb.google.com/108140812446658939096/Gralglas
Names mentioned there too: Hans Theo Baumann, Emil Funke, Günther Hofmann
Livio Seguso designs too!
Cross pollination!
Looking for connections!
@vetraio50 Thank you for this link. How did you find it, by Googling? I never got it. These pieces are stunning. Generally I prefer the simpler ones to the more artful pieces. It's possible that some pieces, those with the soft curves, are by Josef Stadler.
This is great design. It reminds of the vases by Wirkkala, but it works wonderfully as a jug :) An I love jugs, everybody knows LOL