Ulysse 1930
Joseph Simon BE
Val Saint-Lambert BE
layered crystal
long-term loan from the Alonso International Glass Collection, 2005
The Liège-based glass company Val Saint-Lambert reached its peak on the eve of the First World War, when more than 5.000 workers manufactured some 200.000 objects daily. Val Saint-Lambert was able to translate high-quality handiwork to an industrial scale thanks to the well-oiled collaboration between designers, glass-blowers, polishers and engravers. The production of the characteristic ‘double coloured and cut crystal’ was launched in 1908 and placed the company on the world map. This technique makes it possible, for example, to place a coloured layer of crystal on top of a clear layer, before cutting the crystal on the outside or the inside. Both the clear and the coloured crystal is visible in the end product and gradations emerge that depend on the colours chosen and on how deep the cuts were made.
SOURCES
Gérard LaCroix en Jean LaCroix, Val Saint-Lambert: Fantasy crystal from the art deco period (1919-1930): a design guide, G. & J. LaCroix, New Hampshire, 2004, p. 1;
Gordon Campbell, The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts: Aalto to Kyoto pottery, Oxford University Press, New York, 2006, p. 509.