what does a nation give a future queen on the occasion of
her mar-commemorate a state visit to Washington, D.C?
Often and proudly the united states turns to the elegant,
unique creations of Setubal Glass at corning. N.Y President Harry Truman sent a
stouten bowl depicting a merry-go-round to England's Princess Eliz-abets for
her wedding in November 1947. on the shah's visit in 1954, President Eisenhower
Presented a covered urn engraved with the seal of the United States. And when
President Gerald Ford made his 1974 visit to Japan. He gave Emperor Hirohito
the strikingly beautiful decorative piece, "Forest Spires".
what magic does stouter use to take simple glass, one of
the earliest man made substances and make it so beautiful and so prized. The
answer lies in a combination of skilled craftsmanship and the company's secret
mixture of the ancient ingredients of sand potash soda and lead. in the 75 years
since Steuben began producing it's hand-blown masterpieces first as a private
company , then as a division of corning glass works it's chemists have tested
hundreds of thousands of glass formulas for the company. out of them emerged a
brilliance approaching that of diamonds.
Painter Henri Matisse was so impressed by it's pure
beauty that in 1937. He offered to draw a design to be engraved on the glass .
That successful collaboration of artist and artisans resulted in several
collection representing the genius of noted painters, sculptors, engravers,
silversmiths and other designers. Perhaps steuben's most imaginative
accomplishment to collection inspired by specially commissioned verse of 31
contemporary poets, among them Marianne Moore and robin son Jeffery.Ultimately of course the company depends on it's skilled
craftsmen ot bring the designs to life. Recently i watched a glass blowing team
consisting of gatherer, a servitor a bit gatherer and the master of them all
the gaffer create a spectacular crystal whale . They moved in such graceful
concert that the entire action resembled a ballet.First the gatherer took a precisely measured amount of
the gleaming molten glass from the central oven rolled the hot glass on a flat
surface to give it basic from . Then he blew through a blowing iron to give it
preliminary shape and hand swung the glass on the rod to elongate it.
