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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Scandinavian Glass => Topic started by: goyjus on December 08, 2012, 11:36:09 AM

Title: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: goyjus on December 08, 2012, 11:36:09 AM
I don't think there's much age to this piece but just thought it looked interesting. Remain of paper label to base but gives no clue. Any ideas gratefully received.
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID please
Post by: rocco on December 08, 2012, 12:12:05 PM
Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway -- lovely!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingofbananas/4035998036/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingofbananas/4035998036/)

Michael
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID please
Post by: goyjus on December 08, 2012, 12:14:49 PM
Great stuff. Thanks Michael. Much appreciated!
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: flying free on December 16, 2012, 11:06:23 PM
and a beautiful version of it too - they are often in all blue or all green (I have a green one) but the two colours are lovely in yours.  They look fantastic on a window sill with the light coming in behind them.
Benny didn't make these I don't believe, but did design them.  They came in different sizes and look fab grouped together.  I used to have a smaller square squat version as well.
m
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: langhaugh on December 17, 2012, 08:13:17 AM
A lovely piece and part of a great series. I think Benny was strictly a designer, both at Randsfjord and at Plus.

David
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: flying free on December 17, 2012, 08:40:42 AM
David I understood that the pieces she signed herself were made by her?
as opposed to those with nothing on or a label (Randsfjord Glass) or a stamped plusBM  (Plus Glass)
m
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: Ivo on December 17, 2012, 09:37:27 AM
she was a he
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Motzfeldt
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: flying free on December 17, 2012, 09:50:25 AM
She was a she ...unless I'm missing something?  In your link they made a mistake in the first line of the translation but thereafter refer to her as she Ivo  :)

David, I should correct what I said above, I understood they were made with her involvement, rather than those unsigned by her that were production line pieces but designed by her. 
m
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: mbmb on December 17, 2012, 07:11:58 PM
Hi

To clear up any misunderstanding: Benny Motzfeldt was indeed a she (middle name Anette). She was a designer first at Hadeland (1955-67), then at Randsfjord (1967-70) and finally at Plus. It was at Plus she became truly famous. Here she worked in the glassworks with a team of three glassblowers, making sketches on paper and on the floor of the works, laying out pieces of coloured glass, copper wire and whatever else she wanted to incorporate in each individual piece. Her glassblowers would execute each piece as she, standing by their side, instructed - much as a film director would guide his/her actors through a scene. These one off pieces are signed BM and the year it was made. The simpler pieces made for «mass production» are stamped with the Plus logo and her initials. She was working with her glassblower team almost to the end; she died in 1995, having made the bulk of her work after turning 60.

mbmb
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: flying free on December 17, 2012, 07:18:00 PM
thank you mbmb :)
My pieces are signed by her as you say BM and the date
m
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: langhaugh on December 18, 2012, 01:55:41 AM
Thanks for the clarification, mbmb.  You're right in that there are degrees of involvement in the process.  Like many designers (most of the Skdrldovice and Orrefors designers, for example), she communicated with the  glassblowers working on the shop floor in developing and finalizing the design.

David
Title: Re: Unusual Glass Vase - ID = Benny Motzfeldt for Randsfjord Glass, Norway
Post by: chopin-liszt on December 18, 2012, 12:22:14 PM
Even with many pieces she did not directly make, she herself laid out the inclusions on the marver for the glassblower to use.
This info comes from the 1984 book, "Benny Motzfeldt".