187/1998

Collection

Glass

Brief description

Small 'blue frosted' cased glass bowl from the 'Soho' range, designed and distributed by LSA International, made in Poland, and retailed through Heal's from 1995.

Title

Soho

Object name

bowl

Object number

187/1998

Production organisation

LSA International (designer)
Heal and Son Ltd (retailer)

Production date

1995 (retailed)

Production place

Poland (manufactured)
England (designed)

Period

Twentieth century (1900-1999)

Material

glass

Technique

sandblasted
cased

Physical description

Small, circular glass bowl with clear glass body, frosted on the outside and encasing clear blue glass on the inside. The base is flat, but otherwise the shape of the bowl is a half sphere. The receipt from Heal's shows that this piece is described by them as a bowl, but it could be used as an ashtray. LSA International (supplier) describes the object as a decorative bowl. It was made in Poland. The design was introduced by LSA International in 1995, who have most of their designs made in Poland. The bowl was produced using the dip-overlay method and was mouth-blown into a mould. The technique of encasing one glass with another is commonly known as `casing' but properly known as `flashing' or `dip-overlaying' (information from Penny Laughton of LSA International the `correct' terminology coming from her reading of a British Museum catalogue - at LSA International they refer to the method as `casing').

Dimensions

Height: 5.1cm
Diameter: 9.5cm

Label

Caption for Exploring 20th Century London website:
This bowl is made from cased glass; casing is a technique used to fuse differently coloured layers of glass together. When glass cools from its liquid state, stress will set in as the outer surfaces cool more quickly than the inner, meaning the final slightly shrunken piece could crack or shatter, something which can happen years after it is made. Cased glass is particularly at risk. Glassmakers work around this by carefully controlling the rate at which glass cools, and keeping it at a certain temperature for an extended period of time, before allowing it to harden. This small bowl was probably designed in-house for glass and ceramics brand LSA and made in Poland from 1995