Max Lamb - Park Ave Shop New York Monday, March 7, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Catalogue Essay

    A collection of small vases that adopt Lobmeyr’s iconic Alpha glass from 1952 but whose production has been frozen during the process of blowing. The project illustrates both the consistency of the mould blown glass and the irregular beauty of the mouth-blowing process. The Alpha glass, as with all Lobmeyr crystal, is mouth-blown into an open-topped wooden mould whilst being rotated in the hands of the glass-blower, whose sensitivity towards the feel of the glass inside the mould can only be learnt through experience. For example if the glass feels too thick the blow-pipe can be gently lifted to stretch the glass thus reducing the wall thickness. Once the volume of the mould has been filled the glass often continues to inflate outside of the mould creating an irregular bubble on top of the glass until the temperature reduces and blowing stops. The bubble is cut from the glass and discarded for recycling. Lobmeyr’s strict quality-control process ensures that a glass with any significant differences or imperfections is dismissed and returned to the glass-blowing factory. Quality of material and craftsmanship is exponentially higher in Lobmeyr crystal than production or machine-blown glass, but repetition and consistency attempts to be equal.

60

Blowing Vase

2009
Mouth-blown crystal
Dimensions vary
From Cutting, Blowing, and Engraving. A project by Max Lamb for J. & L. Lobmeyr. Unique by nature of the process

Park Ave Shop

7 March
New York