Hot Glass Company, Devonport, Auckland 1980-1989

The Hot Glass Company was the partnership between Peter Raos and  Peter Viesnik that flourished in Devonport, Auckland between 1980 and 1989. I thought this was an early example, made before they knew how to get the bubbles out of the glass, but, ignorant non-glassy that I am, was I ever wrong! The bubbles were deliberately created. 



 

Peter Raos has told me by email:

"This piece looks like one I made. We used to make tints like this pale blue glass and there was a bubble mix we dipped the first gather in that produces the multitude of bubbles. The id on the piece as mine is partly the regular form with the single trail evenly twisted as well as the ring shaped punty. Also the degree of twist in the trail is how I would do that. The trail was a nod to the Egyptian glass of old.

"The black spots are an unintended element caused by "tramp iron" coming from the blowing iron.


"The stickers would be from the mid 1980s. The piece looks like the punty has been torched smooth before annealing, 1983 we still didn't have a torched punty. So that dates it. I started signing all work from 1990 , only exhibition pieces were signed prior to that."

So know I know. Thanks for your comments and my education, Peter Raos

As Peter has said, they didn't sign their work, so it's hard to know who made what, unless one of them can tell you, as Peter Raos has here.  It's therefore not always easy to be certain if a piece was made by the Hot Glass Company, unless it has one of their adhesive paper labels.

 

 

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