Posted 12 years ago
cobaltcobold
(62 items)
Sandra, who has this wonderful blog (and shop) about Scandinavian design, was the first to introduce me to Gunnar Ander:
http://designqvist.at/2012/12/gunnar-ander-cascade/
His Cascade Series is a rather special one. On the first sight, the inclusions with which he works can resemble pollutions. The glass color is a sort of dirty yellow and then there are these brown patterns. These are courageous experiments, and they emphasize the artcraft aspect which is so typical for Swedish design of this time.
My bowl, which stands 9 cm high with a diameter of 14 cm and is rather heavy (820 g), has the specificity of this green stripe which caused the surprize of the experts. But my bowl is signed with the number 1269, and this number is within the Cascade series, says Sandra to me. I don't own other objects of the series, but it seems that the glass of my bowl is "whiter" than the glass of other pieces f the series so that the green spiral can create a beautiful and clear contrast. I must say that I love the bowl just for this stripe which gives an elegant drive to it and is really beautiful in artificial light.
Gunnar Ander lived from 1908-1976 (not long enough!) and was an architect and deseigner. Since 1949 he was the director of Lindshammar (again, I take these informations from Sandra). I think, the Cascade Series was rpduced in the early Sixties.
The Cascade seems rare and special as you say, according to Anders other production. Are they in small series because they are signed so carefully and clearly on the bottom?
@rebessin, I'd be happy if I could answer you the question. My knowledge is really limited. I am learning by collecting and listening (to you, Austro, Sandra and all the others). I hope that Sandra will say a work about your question. Yes, I suppose that only pieces of some importance were signed and that the signature was also a selling argument. How was it practised in Strombergshyttan?
Small series, outside normal range, I believe was always signed with author (se Asta Stromberg special Collection and Nylunds numbered glass GN _ _ _A) in Strombergshyttan. Otherwise mostly with only the model number. Lindshammar had the label with Gunnar Anders (and the other designers) name for normal range. Therefore my believe is that Cascade was small series outside normal range.
@rebessin. That's what I thought. I like these personal works more and more. And it's fascinating for me to see that all these glass designer names were so known in Sweden at these times. It's a real "auteurs" tradition! There must have been a real public for them who really estimated their designs.
It is a nice bowl that you are having there, cobaltcobold! The green stripe works well in this design but I still couldn't imagine any green stripe in any of those Cascade-items that I have. The number of your object is chronologically between two Cascade-shapes with the model numbers 1264 and 1312. So it certainly was produced in temporal connection. Maybe, as Benny on Facebook said, it was an experiment that originated in the course of developping the various Cascade-objects.
@rebessin: I have the Cascade-bowl no. 1312 both fully signed with "Lindshammar Sweden G. Ander 1312" and once unsigned and only carrying the Lindshammar sticker. In some cases this means the object was not perfect and classified second-rate quality. And the signed bowl actually does look better.
Wasn't it a custom at some glassworks that items that were a design by a glass artist but were produced after he/she had left the glassworks weren't fully signed (hopefully they weren't fully sigend! Would have been fraud otherwise) but only sticker-labelled, or - in the case of Lindstrand's works for Kosta - carrying an etching saying "Lindstrand Kosta"?
hi cobalt how are you that is a long time ago im fine still busy https://www.instagram.com/nanjiik/ taglia6284@gmail.com