Topic: LSA International - Polish glass

[Morgan48]

Gareth
If I were in the market for new glass I would not buy any of those three companies.
/quote]

Certainly me neither Peter....my question was simply addressing the comparative issues raised regarding quantity and quality and how one apparently, according to some, tends to alter the respective balance of the other. I dont really feel that the companies mentioned compromise the quality of their product albeit that they are in many respects operating a mass production business.
These companies products certainly are not inexpensive ( I find I now have to try and avoid the word cheap...daft )) so therefore one of the previous arguements based on quantity is not supported here. I must point out that I am not comparing Jablonski with these but this is really quite secondary to the proposition of quantity being linked in any way with issue of quality........anyway lets digress.........this is giving me indegestion.........
I find I have an appreciation of limited editions very much in conflict with my common sense....to the extent that if its a one-off and very desirable I seem to stand a couple of inches taller.....which inevitably at times leaves me feeling bothery rediculous............love it !!!!

Regards

Gareth



Morgan48

[paradisetrader]

Back to LSA Glassware
I don't think anybody knows which factories LSA use Leni and I don't think you'll ever find out. It's quite possible that the LSA do not wish that information to be made public.
It would seem that they wish to promote the LSA "Brand" and that the factories they buy from are quite happy with this arrangement. Similar arrangements have been known before.

This is the Space Comport I saw at the Tate Modern LINK
a nice piece of modern design and very reasonably priced glassware.
Much more LSA on that site.

[Sklounion]

Tongue in cheek question, re space comport description on the last link:
"the base is half solid glass"
what's the other half made of, then? :lol:  :lol:
Super-cooled liquid?

[glasswizard]

Peter, so sorry but in rereading this thread you aske me a question and I simply overlooked it. The lable on my Jablonski pc. says "Unique Crystal Jablonski Hand made in Poland" No mention of LSA at all. Terry

[Leni]

The lable on my Jablonski pc. says "Unique Crystal Jablonski Hand made in Poland" No mention of LSA at all. Terry

I'm sorry, I seem to have started this by my initial equiry about LSA and subsequent search on the Polish Chamber of Commerce website.  I now accept, after Ivo's expert intervention - thank you Ivo - that Jablonksi is NOT connected to LSA.  I apologise for causing this confusion   :oops:

At least I 'discovered' Adam Jablonski as a result! AND was pointed to a lot of other wonderful 'Names' by Peter - thank you for that Peter!  

Leni, Still happily learning!    

[Leni]

I am sure that LSA are not about to divulge who produces their designs - whether Krosno, Irena, Wresniak or any  of the other 60 glass works nobody ever heard of in Poland and really, it is of no consequence.  LSA supply the drawings and the stickers - the rest is strictly internal.  

I think that's a great pity  

If I see a piece of art which I really like I want to know who made it, who designed it, even who taught them, where did they learn their craft?

As I said in the thread in which I was helped to identify my Vadan vase, I feel the need to give credit to the artist.  IMO LSA are, by their attitude and their secrecy, in some way 'cheating' the craftsperson or persons out of the credit due to them  :evil:

There is an analogy in another interest of mine.  In the '60's I was very interested in popular music, not slavishly following one particular band or another but particularly following the movement of particular musicians.   (An example many people will know is Eric Clapton.  We first heard him playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and then followed his movement on through groups including the super-group Cream to finally achieve his recognised status as a solo artist.)  It was fun to listen to the development of talent from sometimes tentative beginnings to its full flowering.  

In the same way I like to see an artist in glass develop, often learning from another craftsperson with whom they have worked and then moving on to start their own company (e.g. as many of the Scottish paperweight artists did and do).  If LSA and similar such organisations conceal the identity of their designers and of the glass factories they use, how can we 'talent spot' and watch the development of the artists whose work we admire?  

Ivo says it is of no consequence.  (I assume by this he means of no consequence to LSA, not to him?)  I disagree with this, and am very sorry that no one has heard of the Polish glass factories he mentions!  If I was a worker in one of those factories I would feel oppressed and undervalued.  Even the designers who supply the drawings which Ivo says LSA  provides are being 'cheated' out of the recognition they deserve.  

Ho hum  

Soap box put away   :oops:

Leni

[Frank]

With manufactured goods it is quite common for several people to be involved in the design and it is quite legitimate to only use a company or other name as a trade mark.

After all much art, traditionally, was executed by students/apprentices/assistants under direction of the artist.

Henry Moore and Bridget Riley being more modern examples. The buyers of their works are well of this.

Same applies in glass to great designers such as Keith Murray and Peter Behrens, I have never seen a complaint that Keith Murrays glass is not correctly attributed.

[Sklounion]

Not when a Behrens wine glass sells at @ €4-8000 lately

[Anonymous]

In almost 30 years of collecting, buying and selling, I have never come across Adam Jablonsky's work.

The Corning Museum of Glass has a huge collection and the fact that one of their curators may have purchased some of a given artist's work at some time or other is always nice to know, but it is not necessarily a validation of that artist's work. Many museums purchase not just for aesthetic reasons but for archival purposes..so that their collections show at a later date who was doing what. (In the British Museum's collection of 7 million artefacts, over a million are flints!)

The Corning Museum of Glass also has a fairly substantial gift shop which sells glass by artists from all over the world. Some artists and their publicists gloss over the difference between the shop and the museum itself when talking about Corning's purchases and even when they make the difference clear, once the information becomes secondhand or sub-edited it may be overlooked.

Gold medals:there isn't an international standard for these, which is probably why you don't see people like Chihuly making reference to winning them....if they mean that much you would expect him to have won a few.

I don't intend to be negative. I know some of you think the stuff is fantastic, but I'm afraid I'm with Ivo.

As for LSA - they are a very professional sales led organisation who in recent years have employed young British designers to work on their ranges. As Ivo says, they then sub-contract the production to various factories in Poland. They are only one of a number of companies dotted around Europe who work this way, but they have recognised the advantages of creating a brand..LSA..which they have marketed as a recognisable style....you'll find their adverts in Elle Deco, as well as a lot of editorial publicity. Do not be under the misapprehension that their products are rare, however, as their output is considerable, which is what one would expect from the very reasonable prices. We are talking at least hundreds and more probably thousands of units of each piece.

Speaking of thousands, the Krosno tumbler you are looking for, Peter, is probably one of tens of thousands produced in the seventies and eighties and imported into the UK. But this just shows that mass produced quantities can become rare...people bought them, broke them and suddenly there aren't any around....I haven't seen one for ages.

[Leni]

As for LSA - they are a very professional sales led organisation who in recent years have employed young British designers to work on their ranges. As Ivo says, they then sub-contract the production to various factories in Poland.

What I would like to know is WHO are those young designers?  And WHO are the craftspeople in Poland who bring those designs to life?   :?

Do not be under the misapprehension that their products are rare, however, as their output is considerable, which is what one would expect from the very reasonable prices. We are talking at least hundreds and more probably thousands of units of each piece.

But surely a good design is still a good design, however many copies of the product are made?  I would just like to be able to know WHO was the designer!  

Also, IMNSHO, the fact that one person likes it and another else doesn't is not the point.

Sorry to be a bit of a 'terrier' with this one   :oops: :roll:

Leni