Topic: Fred Daden, Royal College of Art

[gaspy1]

Fred Daden was a tutor at the Royal College of Art in 1977. Fred came to NZ for a month long workshop with Tony Kuepfer, a pioneer NZ glassmaker, in March that year, and we have just unearthed a film of him working with Tony. I'm preparing a DVD sleeve note and a blog entry about the film, and I'd love to know a bit more about Fred. I think he had worked in the UK glass industry before going to the Royal College - Whitefriars? Did he work anywhere else? Is there a biography anywhere? Is he still alive?

Stuart Park
New Zealand

[gaspy1]

I've had a wonderfully informative response to my query from William Walker, who knew Fred at Whitefriars, and later at the Royal College of Art - thanks, William.

I also found online an obituary notice in the Henley Standard of 7 November 2013 which I strongly suspect is Fred.

[Anne]

Stuart I've found a few references to bits of his life including mentions of his time at Whitefriars - one here: http://www.whitefriars.com/forum/index.php?topic=1109.0 and another one here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php?topic=39500.0

You may have found these other snippets already, but I'll list them here just in case:

National Life Stories Collection: Crafts' Lives http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Crafts/021M-C0960X0016XX-0016V0

"a goblet, easily large enough to take a whole bottle of champagne, blown as a wedding present by Fred Daden, of the Glass Department at the Royal College of Art." http://www.michaelvr.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2010/8/9_Weddings_overblown_and_narcissistic..html

As to alive or not, I found an obit here which may be him: http://www.myfamilyannouncements.co.uk/henleystandard/view/684020/daden-frederick-george - we'd need one of the Whitefriars people perhaps to confirm if it is him.

[gaspy1]

Thanks for that, Anne. I had found a couple of those references, but not others, so that's helpful. Sadly I can confirm the Henley Standard 7 November 2013 obituary is indeed for the Whitefriars / Royal College of Art Fred Daden.