Investing in Glass

Scandinavian and Italian mid-century glass is becoming very collectable worldwide. It's still far from commonplace to find people collecting it - 99.9% of New Zealanders have no idea about mid-century glass. So buy now and you'll find you're still at the leading edge of this phenomenon.

In our view, you will also find that prices will go up and the pieces you buy will become more and more valuable. But it's already becoming more and more sought after. Briefly, here's why we think this is happening.

1. Mid-century design was revolutionary.

After the Second World War, the world was open to change. The middle of last century was a tremendously exciting time for design generally. Items designed at that time, from furniture to toasters, are now collectable.

2. Broadly, it's when the designers took over from the craftsmen.

At the start of the 20th Century, glassmaking was a trade. Even today, there are people who learn to blow glass by serving an apprenticeship. Over the course of the 20th Century, glassmaking progressed from something designed and created by glass blowers to something designed by specialist designers and created by glass blowers. By the 1960s in Murano (Venice), for example, the designers had taken over.

3. Murano and Scandinavia were clearly the best at this time.

As Leslie Pina says in "Fifties Glass", "Many glassmaking centers participated in this exciting event [what she calls 'the explosion of creative activity inspired by individual designers employed by large firms'], but two geographic areas outshine the others in innovation, quality, and productivity - Italy [specifically the island of Murano off the coast of Venice] and Scandinavia.

4. Mid-century glass is a bargain.

Finally, from the 1960s, artists began to penetrate the mysteries of glassblowing with the development of small furnaces and the rise of the 'studio art' movement. Glass art is now something designed and created by artists. However, there is an overlap. Glass lends itself to a team approach and a skilled team of workers can often create pieces that one artist alone cannot. As glass has become a more recognised art form, prices have risen. When modern New Zealand glass artists are selling new works for $7000, a beautiful fifty-year-old piece for $70 or even $700 looks like bargain.

5. Glassmaking is still a rare skill

Even now, it's not an easy thing to learn. Lots of people can make a pot on a potters wheel, and anyone can pick up a paint brush and paint a picture (however badly) but how many people do you know who can blow glass.

6. They're not making any more 1950s glass.

Every day, all around the world, pieces break, making the mid-century glass you own more valuable.

7. Glass is an inherently beautiful material.

Imagine if artists could cheaply and easily make works of art out of huge diamonds. Everyone knows that diamonds are inherently beautiful because of the way they interact with light. Such works would be highly sought after. Glass has the same beauty but is an infinitely superior material to work.

It flows as a liquid and can be blown and moulded into curves and bubbles. You can colour it, cut it smooth, make it opaque, put a clear coating over colour, put a series of layers of different colours, use it like paint, make holes in it, put bubbles into it, make it into detailed designs then insert those designs into other pieces…

You can do all of these things, but remember that mostly it's about light refracting and reflecting.

A few tips on collecting:

Focus on proprietary labelled or signed pieces, and pieces clearly identifiable through books or catalogues. There's lots of misinformation on the Internet.
Look for quality glassmaking. Generally, good firms had high standards. If it's badly made, maybe it's not what you think it is.
Buy or get from the library a book or two on an area that interests you and we like Leslie Pina's books. We focus on mid-century Murano and Scandinavia, with a developing interest in Czech glass of the 60s and 70s.
Buy what you think is beautiful or cool. That's what we do.