Birthday Time for Frederick Carder–b. 9/18/1863

Author

Tolman, Ruel P (Ruel Pardee) 1878-1954

Subject

Carder, Frederick

Corning Glass Works

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

The image was taken by Ruel P. Tolman, Director of Smithsonian National Collection of Fine Arts, and is included in a scrapbook of photographs.

Summary

A man identified as Frederick Carder. Frederick Carder (September 18, 1863- December 10, 1963) was an English artist and glassmaker. With a grounding in chemistry and metallurgy, he perfected numerous glassmaking techniques including enameling, etching, intarsia and cire perdue (“lost wax”). He created over 8,000 designs, many of them in art nouveau style comparable in quality to Tiffany’s works. He is considered a founder of the modern glass movement.

Frederick Carder began his glassmaking career with Stevens & Williams in 1881, where he helped re-introduce colored glass. While at Stevens & Williams, Carder worked with Peter Fabergé of Russia. In 1902, Carder was asked to compile a survey of current glassmaking techniques in other countries, including the United States. After 20 years of glass design and glassmaking experience, disagreements developed within Stevens & Williams. As a result, Carder and his family emigrated to the United States where he and Thomas J. Hawkes (of Hawkes crystal) co-founded the Steuben Glass Works in Corning, NY, the home of Corning Glass Company (also known as Corning Glass Works).

Carder ran Steuben Glass Works from 1903 until 1918. In 1918, Corning Glass Works purchased Steuben, with Carder continuing to manage all aspects of the business. In 1932, the advent of the Great Depression had a negative impact on business at Steuben. Corning Glass terminated the production of colored glass, took over the direction of the Steuben division, and promoted Carder to artistic director for all Corning divisions.

Smithsonian Archives – History Div