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Glass Half Full
Vintage is our area of expertise but historians we are not! Nonetheless, when it comes to glass we do feel it’s important to celebrate this incredible material, to consider how long it has been in existence even in its crudest of forms, not to mention it’s supreme versatility; and to do this, we must look back to the beginning.
Glass connects us to our ancestors, it spans eras, cultures and industries. It revolutionised the way we live as humans – it’s the ultimate universal material.
Encapsulating all of that is, of course, several books worth of work so instead we’ve taken a little time to simply (and we hope fairly) preçis glass in order to provide an overview of the historical highlights – a very brief history glass if you like.
“Glass is the most magical of materials. It transmits lights in a special way.”
Dale Chihuly
A very brief history…
2500 BC> Earliest known independent glass objects were made, mostly beads, in Mesopotamia (modern state of Iraq). Similar bead objects found from around the same time also in Egypt
1450 BC> First glass vessels were created in Egypt. Glass making spread out through Lebanon and along the coastline to countries such as Greece and Cyprus
700 BC> Glass vessels are now being made around the Italian Peninsula
300 BC> Glassmaking craft also spreads Eastwards where it’s used again for beads and bangles
200 BC> Glass bowls and dishes were crafted in Syria
100 BC> The Millefiori glass moulding technique was created – joining glass canes around mud moulds which are then heated to form crude beakers and dishes
1 AD> The first blown glass by Egyptians, using molten glass and a basic blowing iron
300 AD> Romans add copper, iron, manganese and tin to colour and tint blown glass and the earliest stained glass is born. There were attempts to create flat glass around this time but this was only possible in very small sections. Glassmaking in Europe declines for about 1000 years
1100 AD> Venetians redevelop Roman glassmaking skills and consequently many European countries begin using glass once again
1400 AD> Venetians make glass crystal (rock crystal), coloured glass and glass gilding and begin exporting glass to Germany and the UK
1675 AD> Lead crystal is made in London and by 1700 London becomes the centre for lead crystal production
1700 AD> The chemical revolution brings greater understanding to glassmaking techniques
1800 AD> Large-scale industrial supplies of purified raw materials supports mass production of glass
1900 AD> Mechanisation of mass glass production begins in North America and ensures glass as a commonplace industrial and domestic material
Have you ever walked into a restaurant and experienced a lovely warm feeling, something in the atmosphere and yet you can’t quite define what makes it so special? There’s no doubt in that initial moment you experienced a pretty strong sensory assault – a heady combination of smells and sounds, but of course what you …
January 31st marked the end of our financial year – it is the time of year we reflect not only on how we performed financially but how we performed environmentally and socially, because business has to stand for more than just profit, right? Business for good, better business, the kindness economy, the positive pound – …
Glass Half Full
Vintage is our area of expertise but historians we are not! Nonetheless, when it comes to glass we do feel it’s important to celebrate this incredible material, to consider how long it has been in existence even in its crudest of forms, not to mention it’s supreme versatility; and to do this, we must look back to the beginning.
Glass connects us to our ancestors, it spans eras, cultures and industries. It revolutionised the way we live as humans – it’s the ultimate universal material.
Encapsulating all of that is, of course, several books worth of work so instead we’ve taken a little time to simply (and we hope fairly) preçis glass in order to provide an overview of the historical highlights – a very brief history glass if you like.
A very brief history…
2500 BC> Earliest known independent glass objects were made, mostly beads, in Mesopotamia (modern state of Iraq). Similar bead objects found from around the same time also in Egypt
1450 BC> First glass vessels were created in Egypt. Glass making spread out through Lebanon and along the coastline to countries such as Greece and Cyprus
700 BC> Glass vessels are now being made around the Italian Peninsula
300 BC> Glassmaking craft also spreads Eastwards where it’s used again for beads and bangles
200 BC> Glass bowls and dishes were crafted in Syria
100 BC> The Millefiori glass moulding technique was created – joining glass canes around mud moulds which are then heated to form crude beakers and dishes
1 AD> The first blown glass by Egyptians, using molten glass and a basic blowing iron
300 AD> Romans add copper, iron, manganese and tin to colour and tint blown glass and the earliest stained glass is born. There were attempts to create flat glass around this time but this was only possible in very small sections. Glassmaking in Europe declines for about 1000 years
1100 AD> Venetians redevelop Roman glassmaking skills and consequently many European countries begin using glass once again
1400 AD> Venetians make glass crystal (rock crystal), coloured glass and glass gilding and begin exporting glass to Germany and the UK
1675 AD> Lead crystal is made in London and by 1700 London becomes the centre for lead crystal production
1700 AD> The chemical revolution brings greater understanding to glassmaking techniques
1800 AD> Large-scale industrial supplies of purified raw materials supports mass production of glass
1900 AD> Mechanisation of mass glass production begins in North America and ensures glass as a commonplace industrial and domestic material
Acknowlegments & Sources
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