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glassware manufacturers: W to Z
Walsh Walsh, John
Birmingham, England (1850 - 1951)
The Soho & Vesta Glass Works. Pressed glass and hand-blown, cut, engraved, etched, cased and coloured glass (123 designs registered from 1852 to 1939). Clyne Farquharson (late 1930s)
Walter, Almaric V
Nancy, France (c 1900 - 1914, 1918 - 1954)
Worked with Gabriel Lévy (one of his former teachers) in Paris, experimenting with pâte-de-verre. Moved to Nancy c 1903 to collaborate with Henri Bergé (chief decorator) at Daum. Set up on his own after WWI
Waltersperger, Verreries et Cristalleries
Blangy-sur-Bresle, Seine Maritime, France (1916 to present)
Scent bottles & atomisers for companies such as Guerlain. Also some lamp-bases & hand-blown art glass
website
Walther & Söhne, August
Moritzdorf, Germany (1865 - 1990s)
Carl Gottlieb Walther. Bought out by Sachsenglas AG in 1915, trading as August Walther & Söhne until 1940.
Manufacturer of pressed glass, notably 'Oralit' (c 1932 -1940), a range of 'cloud glass' in sepia, topaz-violet, violet, pink and butterscotch, similar to (and often confused with) the products of George Davidson & Co. Glassworks became 'VEB Sachsenglas' after World War II. After privatization in 1990, became Saxonia-Glas GmbH Schwepnitz
(various catalogues, from 1904 to 1937, can be seen at www.glas-musterbuch.de)
Walther Glasfabrikation, Horst
Schwepnitz, Germany (early 20th C)
Pressed functional glassware. Possibly related to August Walther & Söhne
(the 1936 catalogue can be seen at www.glas-musterbuch.de)
Ward, Rowland
London, England & Nairobi, Kenya (1880 to present)
The Rowland Ward company made its name in the late 19th & early 20th Centuries as taxidermists, specialising in African big game animals. Responding to demand, the company expanded into actually arranging safaris & retailing all kinds of goods connected with them, including crystal vases & drinking-glasses, engraved with African animals, usually made in Bohemia & Germany
website
Warmensteinach Glaswerke
Warmensteinach, Germany (1899 - 2000)
Initially beads, then cut & pressed functional & decorative lead crystal. Premises now used by Frankonia Kristallglas
(the 1975 catalogue can be seen at www.glas-musterbuch.de)
Waterford Crystal
Waterford, Ireland (1947 to present)
Cut lead crystal. Now part of WWRD (Waterford, Wedgwood & Royal Doulton) group, which also includes Royal Albert, Minton, Johnson Brothers & Franciscan
website
Waterford Glassworks
Waterford, Ireland (1783 - 1851)
George & William Penrose. John Hill (from Stourbridge, 1783-86), Jonathan Gatchell (1799-1823), George Gatchell (1823-51). Company failed due to lack of capital & excessive taxation
Waterstone Glasshouse
Wath Upon Dearne, England (1937 - ?)
Founded 1937 by Wilfred Barker to make crystal glass, producing mostly industrial glassware such as bottles, ashtrays, eyebaths etc. The business failed twice & then became Glastics which produced lead crystal cosmetic containers. No longer in business
Watford Glass Co Ltd
Watford, England (late 1920s - early 1990s)
Gus Kiwi (from Germany). Felicity Peck (Gus's daughter), then her children until the works closed. Produced cut clear and coloured tableware & other glassware for sale through several department stores, and two vases as a special order for Buckingham Palace
Wear Glass Works
Monkwearmouth, England (1837 - 1892)
James & John Hartley (both from Chance Bros). Cylinder & crown window glass, stained glass.
Webb & Corbett, Thomas
Amblecote, Stourbridge, England (1897 - 1953)
Thomas Webb (III) (1897-1903), Herbert Webb (d 1946), George Harry Corbett at White House Glass Works in Wordsley. Moved to Tutbury Glass Works in Burton-on-Trent 1906, then to Coalbournhill Glass Works in Amblecote in 1913 after a fire. Joseph Locke. Herbert Webb (1906-46), William Kny, Jack Lloyd (engraver, 1901-27), W G Webb, Valentin Weinich (also engravers), Hugo Masey (Bohemian enamellist, 1912-32), A H Andrews, A H Hall, Alice Hindson (all 1930s), Freda M Coleborn (1938), Albert E Oakden, Irene Stevens (1946-57), David Smith (late 1940s-1982). (7 designs registered from 1899 to 1909). Name changed to Webb Corbett in 1953
Webb & Richardson
Wordsley, Stourbridge, England (1829 - 1836)
The Wordsley Flint Glassworks (established 1720). Thomas Webb (I), William Haden Richardson, Benjamin Richardson (I). Became W H, B & J Richardson (1836)
Webb & Sons, Thomas
Wordsley, Stourbridge, England (1840 - 1990)
First at The White House Glass Works (sold to W H, B & J Richardson in 1842), then at The Platts House (1840 - 1855), then finally The Dennis Glass Works (1855 onward), later known as the Stourbridge Glass Works (also at The Oldham Road Flint Glass Works, Varley Street, Manchester). Thomas Webb (I) formerly of Shepherd & Webb. Thomas/George Woodall. William Fritsche. Franz Joseph Palme (1882-), John Northwood. John Thomas Fereday, Daniel/Lionel Pearce. Frederick Engelbert Kny & his son Ludwig. Sven Fogelberg (1932 - from Kosta), T F Pitchford (1930s), Homery Folkes (from c 1933) (45 designs registered from 1867 to 1910). C P Kimberley (engraver) (c 1950s). Bought by Crown House (1964)
(some of the old Thomas Webb & Sons pattern books are now held in the archives of Dudley council)
Webb Corbett
Amblecote, Stourbridge, England (1953 - 1986)
Formerly Thomas Webb & Corbett. David Smith (-1982), Irene Stevens (-1957), Len Green (1957-), David Queensberry (1963, 1965). Bought by Royal Doulton 1969. Glass known as 'Royal Doulton Crystal by Webb Corbett' from 1980. The Webb Corbett name was finally dropped completely in 1986, glassworks closed by Royal Doulton in 1995, although they are still trading
Webb, Joseph
Stourbridge, England (1851 - c 1890)
The Coalbourn Hill Glass Works. Pressed glass (21 designs registered from 1851 to 1885)
Webb's Crystal Glass Co
Amblecote, Stourbridge, England (1919 - 1964)
Subsidiary of Thomas Webb & Sons (23 designs registered from 1930 to 1939). Acquired Edinburgh & Leith Flint Glass Co (c 1920), Wordsley Flint Glassworks (1930s). Bought by Crown House (1964)
Wedgwood Glass
England (1969 - 1988)
Ronald Stennett-Willson. Bought out King's Lynn Glass (1969) and Galway Crystal (1974). Acquired 50% of Dartington (1982). Frank Thrower (of Dartington, 1980s). Merged with Waterford (1986), company sold to Caithness Glass (1988). King's Lynn factory closed 1992. Now part of WWRD (Waterford, Wedgwood & Royal Doulton) group, which also includes Royal Albert, Minton, Johnson Brothers & Franciscan
website
Weiss & Biheller
London, England (c 1891 - 1933)
123 designs registered, 1891-1933. listed as 'Weiss & Biheller, London. Importers'
Welz, Franz
Klostergrab (Hrob), near Teplitz-Schönau (Teplice), Bohemia (1728 - c 1920s)
Hand-blown glass. Labels; 'F.W.K.' (for Franz Welz, Klostergrab), 'ROYAL ART GLASS', & a heraldic lion rampant within a shield
Wentworth Glass Works
Wentworth, Rotherham, England (1631 – 1642)
Built by the monopolist Robert Mansell on ground purchased from the Earl of Stafford. The glassworks used coal from the Earl's pits, under the glassmaker Francis Bristow, to produce pale green/amber window glass of poor quality, which was cut into small panes suitable for fitting into leaded frames. Bristow was imprisoned in 1642 for non-payment of monopoly dues & there is no mention of the glass house after this time
West Lothian Glassworks
Bathgate, Scotland (1866 - 1887)
Donald Fraser. Taken over by Wilson & Sons 1871. Bought out by James Couper & Sons, & name changed to Bathgate Glass Co. Clutha glass produced 1890s
Westmoreland Glass Co
Grapeville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (1890 - 1984)
Tableware & decorative items
Whitefriars
Wealdstone, Middx, England (1961 - 1980)
Formerly James Powell & Sons. Geoffrey Baxter, Peter Wheeler, Michael Harris
Wiener Werkstätte
Vienna, Austria (1903 - 1932)
Not a manufacturer, but a design group developed by "Vienna Secession" (founded 1897). Josef Hoffman (founder), Kolo(man) Moser, Otto Prutscher, Dagobert Peche, Michael Powolny, Marie Wilfert-Waltl (all Prague), Hans Bolex (Vienna) all designed for Loetz
Wilkinson & Co, F
Stourbridge, England (1921 - c 1930s)
Medium-price cut & intaglio glass
Wittig, Ernst
Oberursel , Germany (1908 - ?)
Expelled after World War II from Haida, where the family had a luxury glass refinery, they moved to Oberursel where they continued their production, using high-quality blanks from (mainly) the Hessen Glaswerke. Cut, cut-cased, engraved, gilded, enamelled glassware
W.M.F. (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik)
Göppingen, Germany (1883 to present)
Metal goods factory founded 1853 at Geislingen. Small glass workshop established 1881, then major plant at Göppingen in 1883. Produced "Myra Kristal" and "Ikora Glas" from 1926 to 1936. Hugo Debach (1903), Wilhelm von Eiff (1920s-30s), Karl Wiedmann (1925-39, 1948-51), Fritz August Breuhaus, Richard Riemerschmid, Prof. Behrmann, Paul Haustein, Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1940s/50s). All glass production ceased 1984
website
Wood, John Henry (see Apsley Pellatt & Co)
Wood Brothers
Barnsley, England (1854-1981)
Glassworks founded as Borough Flint Glassworks in 1828 by Usherwood, Barron, Cartwright & Perkes.The Brothers John & James Wood joined the works in 1834, & when Perkes died in 1854, Alphonse Wood (another brother), joined from the Baccarat glassworks & the company became Wood Brothers. Latterly known for a wide variety of products, pressed and blown, domestic, medical & industrial
Wuidart & Co, J
Yalos Casa
Zabkowice Glassworks (Huta Szkla Gospodarczego Zabkowice)
Zahn, Gebrüder
Zanetti, Vetreria Fratelli
Zecchin & Martinuzzi (Zecchin & Martinuzzi Vetri Artistici e Mosaici)
Železný Brod, Fachschule (Střední uměleckoprůmyslová škola sklářská Železný Brod)
Zoude glassworks
Zwiesel, Fachschule
Zwiesel Kristallglas
Holborn, London, England (c 1930s - 1960s)
Wholesale import/export company which commissioned Wealdstone range from James Powell (originally through Elfverson & Co). Agents for Orrefors & Kosta during 1950s/60s. Ronald Stennett-Willson
Murano, Venice, Italy (current)
A subdivision of Effetre . Artistic functional glassware
Zabkowice, Poland (1884 to present)
Pressed and hand-blown glassware
website
Haida (Nový Bor), Bohemia (1895 - 1945)
Founded by Alois Zahn. Glass refiners. Worked for the glass schools in haida & Steinschönau
Murano, Venice, Italy (1956 to present )
Founded by Oscar Zanetti & his son Licio. Luciano Zanetti. Sculptural art glassware & lighting
website
Murano, Venice, Italy (1932 - 1934)
Francesco Zecchin (1932-38), Napoleone Martinuzzi (1932-36), Otello Nason. Alfredo Barbini (c 1933-36), Francesco Martinuzzi
Železný Brod, Czechoslovakia (1920 to present)
Trade School for Glassmaking & Commerce. At first, mainly produced buttons, fashion jewellery, lamp-worked figures, nowadays producing all kinds of Art Glass. Alois Metelák, director (1925 -). Professors Jaroslav Brychta, Juna, Prenosil & Zák (all graduates of Prague Academy of Applied Arts)
website
Namur, Belgium (19th Century)
Cut cased glass. Merged with Herbatte & Jambes glassworks 1867
Zwiesel, Bavaria, Germany (late 18th C to present)
Trade School for Glassmaking. Bruno Mauder (c 1910), Hans Mauder (c 1931-63), Alois Wudy (1965-), Helmut Geib (c 1969)
website
Zwiesel, Bavaria, Germany (1872 to present)
Anton Müller. Originally the Glashütte 'Annathal'. Bought out 'Schott Zwiesel' in 2001. Since 2005, also incliudes the brands 'Zwiesel 1872', & 'Jenaer Glas' (Jena Glass)
website