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

Waltersperge, Verrerie de
Blangy-sur-Bresle, Seine Maritime, France (c 1900 - )
Atomisers, lamp-bases & hand-blown art glass

Walther & Söhne, August
Radeberg, Germany (1865 - )
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

Waterford Crystal
Waterford, Ireland (1951 - )
Cut lead crystal website

Waterford Glassworks
Waterford, Ireland (1783 - 1851)
John Hill (1783-86), Jonathan Gatchell (1799-1823), George Gatchell (1823-51)

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)

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. Name finally dropped completely 1986, glassworks closed by Royal Doulton 1995

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

Welz, Franz
Teplitz-Schönau (Teplice), Bohemia (mid 19th C - c 1920)
Hand-blown glass

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. (c 1910 - 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

W.M.F. (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik)
Göppingen, Germany (1883 - )
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)

Wood, John Henry (see Apsley Pellatt & Co)

Wuidart & Co, J
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

Yalos Casa
Murano, Venice, Italy (current)
A subdivision of Effetre . Artistic functional glassware

Zabkowice Glassworks
Zabkowice, Poland (1884 - )
Pressed and hand-blown glassware website

Zanetti, Vetreria Fratelli
Murano, Venice, Italy (1956 - )
Founded by Oscar Zanetti & his son Licio. Luciano Zanetti. Sculptural art glassware & lighting website

Zecchin & Martinuzzi (Zecchin & Martinuzzi Vetri Artistici e Mosaici)
Murano, Venice, Italy (1932 - 1934)
Francesco Zecchin (1932-38), Napoleone Martinuzzi (1932-36), Otello Nason. Alfredo Barbini (c 1933-36), Francesco Martinuzzi

Železný Brod, Fachschule
Železný Brod, Czechoslovakia (1920 - )
Trade School for Glassmaking & Commerce. Mainly produced buttons, fashion jewellery, lamp-worked figures. Alois Metelák, director (1925 -). Professors Jaroslav Brychta, Juna, Prenosil & Zák (all graduates of Prague Academy of Applied Arts)

Zoude glassworks
Namur, Belgium (19th Century)
Cut cased glass. Merged with Herbatte & Jambes glassworks 1867

Zwiesel, Fachschule
Zwiesel, Bavaria, Germany (late 18th C - )
Trade School for Glassmaking. Bruno Mauder (c 1910), Hans Mauder (c 1931-63), Alois Wudy (1965-), Helmut Geib (c 1969)