APPEALING & HIGHLY ORIGINAL PAPERWEIGHTS FROM TUGS

Paperweights, products & history

In the mid 1840’s, glass paperweights appeared. They were a modern functional glass form that drew upon the ancient glass-making techniques of millefiori (from the Italian for a thousand flowers) and lampwork and the late 18th century technique of cameo crustation.

The sudden popularity of paperweights can be attributed to the growing Victorian leisure-time interest in letter-writing, fashionable with the upper and middle classes.

The exact year and origin of the manufacture of the first glass paperweight is complex but the first recognized appearance can be traced to the Exhibition of Austrian Industry held in Vienna, 1845.

Sought after paperweights

The most sought after paperweights were made by French factories such as Baccarat, Clichy & St Louis during the mid 19th century.
Factories in Bohemia and England followed suit with the earliest dated weights from each being inscribed “1848”.

In the following decade the three great French glasshouses competed with one another in the manufacture of the most beautiful and best executed weights. Patterns were built up from tiny slices of different coloured rods, set in a mould and covered in glass.

The results were a myriad of artistically conceived millefiori designs and lampworked motifs, near technical perfection of the glassmakers skill and great quantities of weights produced. This period of competitive manufacture, which captures paperweight making at its best, is known as the Classis Period of French paperweights.

Paperweights continued to be produced in the 20th century. Baccarat and St Louis maintain production of elegant weights reminiscent of the classic period as well as modern designs.

American glass companies and glass artists also continue creating paperweights in the traditional styles and create new traditions of their own.

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glass paperweights,

"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition." - Mohandas Gandhi