The Crystal Years: A Tribute to the Skills and Artistry of Stevens & Williams Royal Brierley Crystal by R. S. Williams-Smith (review)

dinnerware which was, by contrast, enormously successful; over eighty million pieces were produced. Wright and his wife, who planned the marketing campaigns, pioneered a number of ideas: the first ‘table-to-stove’ ware, the sectional couch, starter sets of tableware, and ‘blonde’ furniture (Wright had long admired the natural birch furnitureof Alvar Aalto). His melamine dinnerware of the late 1940s was among the first moulded in the new plastic and superior in every way to the flimsy, poorly conceived work of other designers. Wright’s concerns extended beyond the products themselves; he promoted informality in entertaining. The asymmetry of his designs, his use of inexpensive materials, his promotion of mix-and-match designs, and the respectability with which he endowed plastics (until then held to be both inferior and unsuitable) opened for many a new way oflife. Gracious living was now within the means of the average person. One no longer needed to belong to an elite class, own precious heirlooms, or spend beyond one’s means to enjoy entertaining. Social life could be more spontaneous, more relaxed. In 1869the sisters Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe had published TheAmerican Woman’sHome, a book that envisioned a better life for the servantless classesthrough sensible, functional design. In the 1940s this American ideal came closer to fruition. Hennessey suggests Wright’s Quaker upbringing as a possible source for his views on unpretentious lifestyles. Perhaps he had been impressed as a student with the social criticism of Thorstein Veblen, whose theory of the leisure class was standard fare in economics classes. Wright’s Easy Living furnishings of 1950 may in fact have followed trends rather than initiated them. World War I1 drastically altered our mores, impressing on many the uncertainty and brevity of life and the need to make the best of less-than-ideal circumstances. Wright’s pogtwar designs seem to have struck a responsive chord among young homemakers of the 1950s. Hennessey reports the facts as he understands them, drawing few conclusions. Since this book was published as an exhibition catalog there was not perhaps the time or space for thoughtful reflection. No convincingcase is made for Wright’s eminence. Hennessey points out a number of instances in which Wright ignored good design practice or used inappropriate materials. The author implies that Wright’s design for his own home is akin to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, but neither the text nor the photographs offer any more than superficial similarities. Beyond their surnames, there was a world of difference between the two and it seems a disserviceto the modest accomplishments of Russel Wright to even suggest a comparison with that genius of modern architecture. An introduction by journalist Russell Lynes adds nothing the author has not provided. The illustrations are excellent and the graphic design is in the flavor of the fifties. The binding, unfortunately, self-destructs upon use. Reviewed by Donald J. Bush, College of Architecture, Dept. of Design Sciences, Arch. 141, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, U.S.A. The Crystal Years: A Tribute to the Skills and Artistry of Stevens & Williams Royal Brierley Crystal. R. S . Williams-Smith. Stevens & Williams Ltd., Brierley Hill, West Midlands, U.K., 1983. 80 pp., illus. This slender book commemorates the 300-year history of a British art glassworks. Written for the collector of rare glasswares by a former director of the glassworks, it is not an exhaustive catalog, but does provide examples of the major types produced by Stevens & Williams. A number of techniques are explained (though not as clearly as one might wish) and several high quality color and blackand -white photographs illustrate them. Three family trees connect over 15 generations to form the history of the works. Fine glass making began in the West Midlands some time around 1610 when exiled Huguenots settled in the locality of Stourbridge. Driven from France by religious persecution, Huguenot craftsmen introduced into England new and improved technologies, notably in the glass, silk, and linen industries. They were also skilled in clockmaking and silversmithing. The abundance of fuel and fireclay attracted them to Stourbridge, which they were to make famous for crystal glass (until 1941called ‘flint glass’). Registered in the parish records...