Anna Roylance
looks at glass
design by Ronald
Stennett-Wilson.
"Many designers
have become
excited by the
possible beauty
of the glass
itself, and
instead of
making it into a
drinking vessel
or an object to
be decorated
they begin to
make the shapes
which exploit
the properties
of the glass,
its
transparency,
the fact that it
can carry
colours either
transparent or
opaque, its
ability to
reflect light,
its smoothness
and crystalline
nature, and its
contradictory
appearance of
solid liquidity...'
Margaret Powling looks into Murano Glass .
'If London had
enjoyed an
enterprising
Health & Safety
Executive our
historic capital
might never have
experienced the
conflagration of
1666 which we
now refer to as
the Great Fire
of London, for
the bakers of
Pudding Lane
would have been
sent packing to
the Isle of
Dogs. Things
were a little
different in
Venice, a city
not known for
its bakeries but
for its glass
manufacture.
Indeed glass
making had
existed in
Venice since the
8th century and
by the 13th
there were
sufficient
makers to form a
guild. But
because of the
potential for
fire from so
many furnaces,
in 1291 "the
Council of ten
banished the
glassmen to the
island of Murano...'
Holmegaard: Geoffrey Palin
gives us a history of this classic Danish
Glassware.
'Late forties
Europe, bleak,
battered and
bloodied
following the
tragic events of
the Second World
War, desperately
needed a
positive course
on which a new
and better world
could be built.
Artists and
designers,
finally free
from war time
constraints
reasserted
themselves
whilst the
general populous
all hungry for
change,
clamoured their
part in this new
world order by
seeking refuge
in the fields of
the decorative
and applied
arts. In
Scandinavia and
in particular
Denmark...'
The Antiquexplorer guide to Antiques in
Warminster.
'If you are
searching for a
town firmly
placed on the
antiques trail -
ease of parking
with quiet
comfortable
accommodation,
good food and a
great base in
which to explore
the rest of the
Westcountry then
read on, because
Warminster
awaits you with
a friendly
welcome...'
