Ruby Rose Vintage

Geoffrey Baxter - Whitefriars

During the mid 1960’s the designer Geoffrey Baxter who had joined the factory in 1954 directly from the Royal School of Art, began experimenting with a completely new approach to glass design, the idea was to create a completely new style of glass suitable for the swinging sixties,a "groovy baby" style, the hallucinogenic sixties had arrived.

Ply-wood, nails, pieces of bark, bits of wire, and all manner of materials were used to create prototype moulds. The moulds were re-made in more durable cast iron. They had to be made in 3 parts due to the complexity of the designs. The same moulds were usually used for the entirety of the production run, so by looking at how defined the texture on the piece is, its possible to estimate how early the example. Due to the fact that moulds wear with age. However the temperature of the mould at the time of blowing also has an effect on the crispness of the finished piece, i.e. glass flows more readily into a hot mould.

Geoffrey Baxter sadly died in 1995 but its heart warming to know that before he died the momentum had already begun for his glass to gain it's now cult status. His glass had become collectable and he was well aware of the historical importance of his designs before he died.

Whitefriars glass has over the last fifteen years had somewhat of a revival especially the textured ranges by Geoffrey Baxter which have increased in price tenfold.

As for the earlier pieces, they too are becoming extremely collectable and more difficult to find, but I think they are yet still to achieve the status they truly deserve .

This leads to a fantastic opportunity for collectors, to gain a world class collection, for a relatively small investment. The North American and Japanese markets are yet to discover this wonderful glass, I think that when they do, prices are likely to rocket!. My advice would be to, buy glass from between the wars, especially the simple designs with geometric wheel engraving, ribbon trailed pieces, which can be bought on ebay quite cheaply and of course any pieces which obviously represent the period in which they were designed.

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By Whitefriars.com