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James
Powell and Sons (Whitefriars) Ltd:
Although James Powell bought the Whitefriars factory in 1834 it was not until about 1860 that
the work we now recognise as synonymous with this company began. It was the work commissioned by William Morris and designed
by Phillip Webb, along with the designs by the architect T.G.Jackson some ten years later, that saw the beginning of a new
style by the company, within the Arts & Crafts genre which broke with the mainstream British traditions of glass design
at that time.
Around the same time Harry Powell introduced work that was influenced by Venetian glass, most
notably by the firm of Salviati. He also created wares based on drawings made when visiting museums throughout Europe and
the United Kingdom, which are known as Historistmus glass, or “Glasses with Histories”. Harry Powell produced
the majority of designs used by the firm between about 1875 and the 1920’s, establishing it at the forefront of glass
design and production in Britain.
The company continued to make glass at the same site under the auspices of Harry Powell until
the beginning of 1923, when it moved to the Harrow Weald site where it began a new phase in its development. Harry produced
his last design for the company in 1920, but many of his designs were produced and some even introduced during the 1920’s. Little is known about authorship of designs at the firm during the 1920’s until
Barnaby Powell produced his first pieces for the firm in 1929, which followed in the tradition of blown self-coloured vessels
that had become synonymous with the firm.
Unlike Harry Powell, whose work was light and thin, Barnaby’s designs gradually became
heavier, possibly as a result of working with Capt. Henry Dunn-Cooke who ran the firm of Elferson, which acted as importers
of Wuidart. Powell’s were to produce a range of wares for Wuidart’s under the name of ‘Wealdstone’,
which was initially exclusive to Wuidart and used different colours and shapes to the main production by Powell although some
pieces were adapted from existing patterns. It was also weightier than the normal wares produced by the firm. This was most
likely the influence of Dunn-Cooke, since he produced a number of experimental designs for Powell that are known to be the
thickest and heaviest glass that the firm ever made.
The influence of the Art Deco style was not immediately obvious in the company’s work,
partly because the informal limpid nature of the glass that they produced did not lend itself directly to the more formal
approach of ‘Deco. Yet the work of two new designers at the company, James Hogan and William Wilson, did manage to encompass
the Art Deco ethos, most notably with the cut glass pieces by Wilson, but also the work by Hogan that referenced Scandinavian
style in its approach. Barnaby Powell also contributed to the stylishly successful Art Deco cut ranges by the firm with a
group of shallow bowls on cylindrical pedestals that he worked on with Albert Tubby, one of the factory’s glasscutters.
Some of the work of both Barnaby Powell and James Hogan showed an awareness of Scandinavian
design with its organic simplicity that relied on form and transparent colour, whilst at the same time carrying on in the
tradition largely created by Harry Powell. The ranges designed by Tom Hill, one of the glassblowers in the factory, also exhibited
these qualities.
Whilst all the designers produced work on their own, most also worked in collaboration with
one or more of the other designers, or else with factory specialists such as Tubby. For instance Wilson and Hogan worked together,
whilst both Wilson and Barnaby Powell produced their cut designs with the input of Albert Tubby. Again it was Wilson who combined
with Bernard Fitch, the head of the cutting shop, to produce a range of thick walled, deeply cut pieces.
After the war this “working in tandem” continued when the firm took on Royal College
graduate Geofrey Baxter. Wilson, who was by this time the Managing Director of the company as well as the main designer, realised
Baxter’s potential and employed him as a designer. They worked together on several ranges notably when Wilson produced
the shapes for Baxter’s designs for cut glass in the ‘Contemporary’ style.
Eventually Baxter took over from Wilson as the Chief Designer. Baxter’s innovative work in the 1950’s and
1960’s with his elegant Scandinavian influenced ranges that were nevertheless quintessentially British; his adaptation
of old lighting moulds to produce the graceful lightweight soda glass vases; and the introduction of the highly successful
brightly coloured textured ranges in soda glass, all took Whitefriars into a new era and indeed enabled it to exist until
its demise in 1980, when the site was sold for re-development.
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Gray-stan
During the 1920’s Elizabeth Graydon-Stannus formerly from Ireland, ran an antique business trading in Antique
Irish Glass based in central London in Earl’s Court Square and had made herself into a recognised authority on the subject.
In 1922 she decided to produce reproduction Irish glass and opened a studio , which was marketed under the name of
“Gray-Stan” and made in Battersea, South London. Production was broadly split into two types.
There was a range of wares that had a traditional feel and used a palette of clear, dark blue (cobalt), amethyst, amber
and turquoise (all transparent self coloured) and opaque white. The body of a vessel would be in one colour and decorated
with another, sometimes two. Often this was applied as a rim decoration, or as teardrops.
Large goblet shaped vases, tall flute vases, other vase shapes and bowls, sometimes lidded, were also made. Often these
pieces were not marked with the engraved script mark that was usual with much of the company’s production.
A second range of vessels produced by the firm is readily identifiable through its coloured, cloudy opaque style. Items
of this type included vases, bowls, candlesticks, powder-boxes and ginger jars. Both Gray-Stan’s work from these ranges
and Nazeing’s were made in the same way. Firstly, a gather was taken from the kiln, and then it was rolled into sifted
white enamels before melting them into the gather by placing through the glory hole. The marver block was cleaned and the
gather was rolled over the sifted colour enamels. At this stage the swirled effect would be given to the piece by using the
purcellers. Finally, the whole thing would be coated with a layer of glass (the
casing), blown and formed into shape. More usually pieces from these ranges were one colour with white, but two colour items
were also produced.
It is sometimes difficult to tell Gray-Stan and Nazeing apart, but both companies have discernable shapes that are
synonymous to each with very few that are common to both.
It is a common fallacy that all Gray-Stan is marked with an engraved script mark, either “Gray-stan, British”
or “Gray-Stan”, however this is not the case, There may be a number of reasons for this, but the most likely is
that work was produced for, and sold by, another company. In this case it was Elwell & Co.
In
1936 production ceased. There are a number of hearsay stories, some of which appear to have elements of truth, that throw
doubt on the veracity of some of the company’s production. It is believed that pieces were made to deceive the Old Irish
market. Even for the period in which Mrs Graydon-Stannus was trading it would have been difficult to source as many Old Irish
items as she appeared to sell, so one’s natural scepticism is aroused. Perhaps this had some bearing on the demise of
this glassmaking firm.
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Nazeing Glass Works and its Victorian Origins -
Charles Kempton & Sons
The history
of Nazeing Glass began in London in the 1870’s with Charles Kempton who progressed from being a warehouseman
to become a supplier and manufacturer of glass, and finally a producer of glass, along with his two elder sons – quite
possibly through the influence of his father-in-law who was a glassblower for James Powell and Sons (Whitefriars). Charles’s
company went through various guises, with a number of partners and at different addresses in Southwark and Vauxhall before
its final move to Nazeing under the auspices of his son Richard.
Much
of the production during the Victorian period was centred round lighting as well as what is now regarded as Victorian “fancy
glass”. Work from this period has often hitherto been attributed to the London
firm of James Powell & Sons, and occasionally to the better quality Stourbridge factories. In particular, a series of
Trumpet vases that range from small solifleur vases through to huge floor standing two-piece items with metal connectors are
now known to be by Charles Kempton.
In 1928, what is now the last family owned glass manufacturer
in England moved from Southwark, London due to redevelopment of the area to a site in Hertfordshire. The company, known as
Nazeing Glass, then owned by the Kempton family of glassmakers, bought a property in a low-lying field on the Broxbourne/Nazeing
border called ‘The Goats’. There was a large shed, which became the centre for glass production until it was superseded
by the complex of buildings that exist to this day. Indeed, the company logo still incorporates a pair of goats, referring
back to its origins.
It was
not until 1930/31 that production began in the “Goat Shed”. Production consisted of a range of art glass items
that included vases, bowls, lighting, desk accessories and paperweights. Most of the wares were what we now term as “cloudy”
and were not unlike the work of Gray-Stan, or some of that produced by Powell in the late 1920’s and 1930’s. The
majority of the pieces produced used a colour, with white enamel underneath giving a pastel effect. There were also heavily
cased pieces that exhibited traits of Italian glass, such as the work of Barovier.
During
WWII the firm went over to production for the war effort. Malcolm Pollock-Hill became a shareholder in the 1930’s, eventually
purchasing the company in 1942. A tank furnace was installed to assist in producing work for the Ministry of Aircraft, which
enabled other wares to be introduced to the company’s production.
After
the war the company started making drinking glasses and ashtrays for commercial businesses such as hotels and airlines. This
culminated in the firm finding work in niche markets, including pub glass, advertising wares and even a range of Bristol Blue
glass retailed through the museum at Bristol. Malcolm Pollock-Hill’s
son, Stephen, became joint managing director in 1990 and only recently retired from that position, however he still remains
active within the company.
For a
brief period in 1999 the firm experimented with producing Art Glass again and marketed a range of items, but the project was
found to be uncommercial, so ceased.
Much
of the current production includes press-moulded glass raging from traffic light lenses to architectural street lenses (for
basements). Only twenty percent of the current output is domestic in nature, being mainly tableware for hotels and caterers.
Nowadays, the company has close links with glass artists who can produce more intricate wares that require different skills
to those available in-house.
© Pictures & Text
- Nigel Benson - 20th Century Glass, 2003 - 2009
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Examples of British glass produced between the wars below:
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| Two of 'Streaky' vases by Powell, c1930, |
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| Sea-green decanter, shape designed by Barnaby Powell, cutting by WJ Wilson, mid 1930's |
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| Group of items produced by Gray-stan, 1926-36 |
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| Two 'Funnel' vases by Nazeing Glass, pre-war on left, post-war on right |
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| Stuart & Sons, enamelled cocktail shaker with intaglio cut spider's web, c1930 |
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We always have extensive stock of Monart,
Powell, (Whitefriars), and Nazeing, good examples of Keith Murray, with items by Gray-stan, Walsh, Webb, Webb
Corbett and Stevens & Williams (Royal Brierley) always represented. If you are interested in purchasing any pre-war British glass, please
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