|
Fredrick C. Carder founded Steuben Glass Works in 1903. There his experimenting with colored glass
was brought to an art with Carders ability to bring something called Gold Aurene to his colored glass. Carders
art in glass would match the collectable colored and iridescent glass being created by his contemporaries at Tiffany &
Quezal. Up until 1932 Carder
created signed art glass shades with 140 hues and colors in over 7000 amazing shapes at Steuben Glass Works. Steuben Glass Works last know piece of Art Glass
was created in 1943. So today in
2008 a Signed Steuben Art Glass Shade has become more than a collectable. Steuben Art Glass Shades are
lasting pieces of art in any room they illuminate.
|
Concealing the bright naked
electric light bulb was the goal at the turn of the century art glass shade companies of Tiffany, Quezal & Steuben.
So doesn’t still today make sense to cover the
harsh bulb not just with a glass shade but with a piece of built-in art glass shade for illumination has
never been so beautiful as when it is seen through an art glass shade.
|
Quezal Art and Decorating Glass Company Named after a rare bird (the central American Quetzal) and started in
1902 by Martin Bach and a few others who had already made major contributions at Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company as
a chemist (wow art & science & nature). No longer an employee of Louis Comfort Tiffany, the
science and art at Quezal led to an endless supply of designs and colors of all hand blown art glass including art glass shades.
Even back at the turn of the century Quezal glass piece sold at prices higher than other art glass pieces of
the time.
The distinctive signature that has the look of gold & platinum on all Quezal pieces
was actually written with a stylus. Art
glass shades and other glass piece like candleholders, drinking glasses, finger bowls, vases and even some lamps were
all hand made until 1924.
|
