ARTICLE - HOLMEGAARD GLASS
It may not be all that romantic to say a glassworks was born in a bog, Early days The ovens were lit for the very first time on November 5, 1825. Initial production was limited to green bottles, although Henriette Danneskiold-Samsoee had high hopes for the manufacture of clear glass. She knew the locals didn’t have the necessary expertise, so she hired in workers from Bohemia and by the 1830s the Holmegaard factory had branched out into the production of carafes and stemmed wine glasses. Changing of the guard After Henriette died in 1843, the glassworks was taken over by her son C.C.S. Danneskiold-Samsoee. He established a second factory in the Copenhagen area, placing the business near to the water so that the coal could berth close to the glassworks. At the Kastrup Glassworks, production was limited to glass bottles. New designs The rise of importance within the designers led to the introduction of innovative wares. In 1906, designer Svend Hammershoei presented the company’s first series of wine glasses. Named The Margrethe Series, it was so popular that the style stayed in production for more than forty years. Then, in 1923 a contract was signed between the The Royal Porcelain Factory and the Holmegaard Glassworks, which commissioned Holmegaard to manufacture glass designed by The Royal Porcelain Factory. The first of these glasses was designed by Oluf Jensen. Taking on the world It wasn’t all plain sailing. When Holmegaard exhibited at the Barcelona World Fair of 1929, the factory was in a decline. It needed a new range to attract public interest, something different and recognisable. Just such a boost was supplied by Jacob Bang, who hit the jackpot with his first major glass designs for Holmegaard. His Viol range raised the international profile of the Danish glassworks and was so popular that it was expanded for several years, remaining in production for several decades. The Lutken years In May 1942, Holmegaard engaged the services of the designer Per Lutken. In his fifty-six years at the glassworks – he worked there until his death in 1998 – Lutken, who originally trained as a painter at the School of Arts, Crafts and Design, created some of the factory’s most masterful pieces, as well as designs that have now become accepted as classics, including the Idelle series, the Carnaby range, the Ship’s Glasses and the Provence bowls. Lutken designed around 3000 glasses, and his name has become synonymous with high quality Danish glass. His designs are particularly sought after today. What on earth is the Cluck Cluck?There was a Cluck Cluck bottle offered for sale in the Summer edition of ACPP, but hands up those who had no idea what it was. We initially thought the description was a spelling error! It turns out that the Cluck Cluck bottle is really rather special. It’s made in a way that is almost glass blowing in reverse, giving it the appearance of having been squeezed inward, or collapsed. The design has been made at Holmegaard for the past 150 years, although new shapes within the style have been introduced during various periods of manufacture. And what of the name? Apparently it’s because of the noise that’s made when the bottle or decanter is being poured… The Gulvase One of Holmegaard’s many success stories, the Gulvvase was designed by Otto Brauer, who joined the company in 1931 as a glassblower. By 1946 he had been awarded the title of Master Glassblower, and in 1962 he was responsible for the distinctive and highly popular Gulvvase (which was based on a 1958 design by Per Lutken). Initially it was produced in an uncased dark olive green, amber or dark blue, although by 1963/64 the design had also been produced in opal glass cased in clear, and in 1967 it was reissued in yellow. That same year an opal cased Gulvvase was also introduced, in the combinations of opal/blue, opal/red and opal/green. If you come across a dark olive green over opal glass, snap it up; they were made in a very limited number. The opal/clear and yellow/clear combinations were phased out in 1970/71, when an opal/yellow was introduced. The Gulvvase was also made in fairly large quantities by Cascade Glass of England, who operated under license from Holmegaard. This information first appeared in Issue 36 of Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit.
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but in this case it’s entirely true.
The Danish Count Christian Danneskiold-Samsoee sent an application to his king in 1823 requesting permission to establish a glassworks in the Holmegaard bog, which with its endless supply of peat would provide cheap fuel and perfect conditions
for his imagined enterprise. However, the Count died before the king had issued his reply. Wishing to fulfil her husband’s dying wish, his widow – a mother of seven – accepted the king’s eventual approval and thus became the founder of Denmark’s
first industrial glassworks.
