But was any Lobmeyr family member actually a designer? Didn't the company usually have contracts with the best designers rather than employing them to create to order? Surely they just had superb taste and excellent marketing skills, much along the lines of Liberty, just in a more specialised area. And there's nothing wrong with that. When you look at their website they are proud to be retailers.
Oh my goodness, yes, they designed LOTS! Joseph Lobmeyr started out in 1822/1823 strictly as a retailer, but by 1840 started designing, and the family has been doing it ever since. They've also used designs from others, and collaborated particularly closely with the Wiener Werkstatte and designers there, but mostly it was the Lobmeyrs. They even produced their own glass for a while, and operated at least one refinery. They also farmed out a lot of their decorating to home workshops, so not all of their stuff was done by companies like Meyr's Neffe and Egermann.
"Ludwig Lobmeyr was well aware of the significance of his works as models for the glass industry. For this reason, he donated to the museum (MAK in Vienna) eleven volumes of working drawings for a number of selected objects which had been produced since the establishing of the company, followed by seven addition volumes in 1892. His intention was 'to be thus insturmental to our domestic glass industry.'
"The 18 volumes of about 1000 drawings gave a survey of the production of the company ever since its foundation"
J. & L. Lobmeyr, Between Tradition and Innovation, ed. Peter Noever
Topic: Need help on this Bohemian Cut Vase (Read 1694 times)
