Kobalt Glass Vase, Ruda Sweden

Ruda Glasbruk existed from 1910 to 1972, originally making household utility products, then products for industry. Ruda is a town in the "glasriket" or Kingdom of Glass in Sweden. This where all the main glass companies of Sweden are or were based.eg Kosta, Orrefors, Maleras, Reijmyre.
In 1947 a company called Jungner bought Ruda, and Gote Augustsson arrived from this company and became works manager and chief designer. From the 50s on the company moved more into the art glass field and as far as I can find, Augustsson designed all the glass series produced by the company. I can see it might be a conflict of financial interest to have your designer also in charge of the works! It may be an urban legend (or a Kingdom of Glass legend) that Ruda's products cost more to make than they were sold for, which is why they closed in 72.

This series of cobalt glass is called Kobalt. The glass is an intense midnight blue, almost black and apparently had high levels of cobalt in the glass batch. Like much Ruda glass the pieces were formed in moulds made from carbon, which deteriorated quickly and resulted in differences between each item made as the mould changed. Carbon moulds required replacing often, which made production costs high.

Kobalt came in a variety of bowls, vases and flasks, this is the tallest at 220mm. It is a brutish bit of glass but I love it - it's like a dark secret.....