Thursday 14 January 2010

Canadian Chalet Glass

Looking around the excellent Glass Message Board last night, I found a post relating to the lesser-known name of Chalet, who made glass in Canada from 1962-75. Two typical pieces are shown here, courtesy of Miller's Online. With its spectacular forms and vibrant colours, Chalet glass is often mistaken for glass made on Murano in Italy. With the recent rediscovery of postwar Czech glass, it has also become confused with the production of Czechoslovakia's Skrdlovice factory.
Well, thanks to a wonderful article on the company and its work, including two original catalogue pages showing shapes, this confusion may end.
The article turns out to be by my friend and fellow collector Conrad Biernacki, who is kind, charming, and extremely generous with his immense intelligence, knowledge, and experience. I first met Conrad a couple of years ago when, as programs manager, he invited me to lecture about Fat Lava at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Knowing Conrad, this article will be both well-researched and well-written - you can read it by clicking here.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I am selling off my Art Glass Selection - Chalet, Murano, Altaglas contact Chalet.Glass@gmail.com

Thank you Rob D

Unknown said...

For anybody looking to expand their collection, or just seeking more information regarding this fantastic art form - www.chaletvintageartglass.com is the place to go. I was directed to this site by a friend and couldn't have been happier with what I found. Professional site, great pieces for sale, and lots of well researched information. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in chalet glass.

Deborah said...

Hi Paulette,

I was stunned and thrilled to see your comment about my site - thank you so much! Please join the forum - its starting to get lively!
I especially appreciate the comments about the research as I was able to spend time with a Chalet Maestro, was given access to the files of the Cornwall Community Museum, found wonderful articles by Mark Hill, Conrad Biernicke, Mario Panizzon.

Fantastic News!!!!!!!!!!

There will be a fantastic Chalet glass exhibit: It opens Tuesday, October 26th and runs for 6 weeks until Thursday, December 2nd at the Cornwall Regional Art Gallery located at 168 Pitt Street(at 2nd Ave), Cornwall.

The wine and cheese reception celebrating the show will take place at the gallery Saturday, October 30th at 2:00 p.m. and the guests of honour will include Chalet artisans, Master glass blowers and members of the founding family.There will be a program for sale as well as a publication re Chalet marks and product lines and how to help id those "Similar yet Different"
glass houses.

There will be between 300-400 pieces on display from collectors all over Canada as well as pieces offered for sale from the Chalet Vintage Art Glass Gallery.

This is going to be an amazining show - Mark Hill we need you there!
For more details: info@chaletvintageartglass.com

Deborah

caro said...

I have quite a few pieces of Chalet/Murano glass for sale, some marked, some not. As well I have 2 fat lava pitchers/vases. If anyone is interested, please email me at caro@midlandswapshop.com

bm said...

hello we have an extensive collection of 50 pieces various colours and shapes we have been collecting for 40 years, we would like to sell the entire collection in one sale asking price between 5000.00 and 6000.00 if interested please email us a bunnyotter@primus.ca thank you