Daum Acid Etched Vase-Piece of the Week

Sometimes simplicity is key to good design and Daum were usually quite good at simple art deco designs combined with craftsmanship. This vase is 31cm high.
see glass section of my website; http://www.classicartdeco.co.uk/glass.php


Founded in 1878 by Jean Daum[1] (1825–1885).
His sons, Auguste Daum (1853–1909) and Antonin Daum (1864–1931), ran the company during Art Nouveau period.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1900 Daum was awarded a ‘Grand Prix’ medal. Daum glass became more elaborate, acid etching (by Jacques Gruber) was often combined with carving, enamelling and engraving on a single piece of glass to produce creative glass master-pieces.
Daum creations also feature applied glass elements, such as handles and ornamental motifs in naturalistic forms.
The Daum brothers were one of the major forces in the Art Nouveau movement, seriously rivalling Gallé, so much so that when Émile Gallé died in 1904 they became the leaders in the field of decorative glass.
In 1906 Daum revived pâte de verre (glass paste), an ancient Egyptian method of glass casting, developing the method so that by the 1930s Daum's window panels used pâte de verre for richness instead of leaded or painted glass.

Daum gradually moved into the Art Deco period. The creations in this new style are some of the best of its period. Glass became a tool with which to create good design and Daum began to use the skills learnt during the Art Nouveau time to move with the times.
On the art deco pieces they produced it can be seen how the craftsmen worked.
Bevels were arranged in cubist form, planes were cut deep into a crystallised or frosted  aspect, leaving parts of a pattern rough and other parts polished. Geometric patterns were arranged and motifs employed that were fresh and vibrant for the jazz age.
Always tactile to hold and feel. The differing textures were copied and imitated but very rarely equalled.
The Exposition International des Art Decoratif et Industrial held in Paris in 1925 gave them an opportunity to show their wares off to buyers all over the word and with the skill of its craftsman the Daum company had years of prosperity leaving us today with some of the finest examples of Art Deco.
They don't come cheap quality never does this one is over £500 but where can you find something with such sophistication for less.

Antique Road Trip-The BBC's David Harper Drops In.

I had just come back from a buying trip in France, my own antique road trip and the BBC dropped in again, to do some more filming. This time for The Antique Road Trip.
The format is pretty well recorded David buys a few bits from me that he then attempts to sell on at a local auction, which unfortunatly may be Cato Crane's, and hopefully make a profit.
 He is a dealer so of corse he will be as hard a negotiator as the rest of us are. I was as helpful as I coul be, but we seemed to get along well enough, I hope he makes a profit on the items he bought from me an goes on to win the challenge. Not sure when the programme will go out hopefully soon. My trip to France meant I ha a lot of new things in the shop www.classicartdeco.co.uk and David was genuinly impressed by the shop. Have look by clicking on the link.