It's ten days 'til Christmas! Is your Holiday bar cart ready-to-go?
Southwestern Pennsylvania (as well as Ohio and West Virginia) was the locus of much American glassmaking in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The region had all the elements necessary for the manufacture of glass: silica (the raw material), heat (provided by coal or gas), labor (much of it from Eastern European glass-producing countries), and transport for the finished goods (that is, the rivers which lace the area). Another factor helped promote glassmaking in this area: the Allegheny mountains which made East-West transport difficult (especially when porting delicate glass merchandise). Western Pennsylvania was able to produce glass for (and deliver it to) the growing Midwest (without having to lug it from the East Coast, up-and-over the Alleghenies).
One such maker was Léon Joseph Houze, an immigrant from Belgium. He opened a glassmaking shop in Point Marion, Pennsylvania, due south of Pittsburgh (near the West Virginia border). Initially, he made window glass—blowing large "tubes" of glass which could be cut and opened-flat before cooling.
Window glass remained a big part of Houze's business. When the White House was being renovated after World War II, Houze was commissioned to manufacture its replacement window glass. They were the only firm which was able to produce window glass which matched the look and quality of the original panes from 1792.
Houze pioneered specialty "slag glass" items: sheets of glass (for lamp shades and stained-glass windows), ashtrays, flower pots and the decorative knobs for automobile gear-shift sticks. And the company also made camera lenses, goggles and eyeglass lenses.
In the Fifties, Houze developed new processes for "printing" decorative enameling onto glass—which led to a whole world of consumer product offering. One such items was the "Season's Greetings" rocks glasses, made in the Seventies, shown above. The stained-glass effect give the glasses a Nineteenth Century sensibility—and is a nod to Houze's principal business (colored sheet glass).
Houze survived the difficult challenges of the post war American glass industry (which saw much glass production transferred from the victor countries to the vanquished countries). Eventually, Houze stopped manufacturing their own glassware—instead focusing on decorating other makers' "blanks" for resale. In 2004, Houze shuttered its doors for good—another casualty of American manufacturing.
The set of four "Season's Greetings" rocks glasses, shown above, are decorated with a stained glass graphic. The rims are lightly ringed with 22 karat gold—which provide a bit of luxury and help protect the rims from chipping. They certainly would add a colorful, festive zing to your bar or bar cart. Click on the photo above to learn more about them.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248