Steuben Glass reintroduces colored pieces

Steuben Glass´ announcement Thursday that it would reintroduce color to its glass after a 75-year absence was lauded by a local historian and follower of the company.

Thomas Dimitroff, 72, of Corning, author of Frederick Carder and Steuben Glass: American Classics, said the change was long overdue. The company announced it would add five colors to its Luminescence collection: indigo, smoke and sunset, available this spring, and bronze and amber for the fall.

There are nine Steuben pieces in the collection: a low footed bowl and spiral bowl are available in indigo and smoke; an olive dish in smoke and sunset; a mint bowl in smoke; and a trillium bowl and a little handkerchief in sunset. Items in the line cost between $600 and $1,200. "I think it is a sensible thing for them to do," Dimitroff said. "If they can develop their colors, I think it´ll make them competitive in a field they haven´t been competitive inin a long time. "I hope it will be a part of maybe keeping the making of the glass here in this country," Dimitroff said.

Dimitroff said demand for colored art glass has been growing since the 1960s. When Arthur Houghton replaced Frederick Carder as director of Steuben Glass in 1933, he decided to phase out color in favor of brilliant optical glass, Dimitroff explained. Carder became art director at Corning Glass Works.

Dimitroff said Carder, one of the co-founders of Steuben Glass, opposed the change to colorless glass, because he had seen three demand cycles in glassmaking in his lifetime. "First was colorless glass, then came color. Then colorless glass returned," Dimitroff said, quoting from his book. "Carder predicted at that time that color would, in turn, come back again."

Dimitroff said some presidents of the company later tried to reintroduce color but were met with opposition because the brilliant clear glass the company had become an important tradition in the brand. He said Corning Inc.´s 2008 sale of 80 percent of Steuben Glass to Schottenstein Stores Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, may have given the company freedom to use color again. Each of the colored pieces remains true to tradition by using subtle touches of clear glass, the company said in an announcement.