p. 41-44 of Steuben Glass, an American Tradition in Crystal(revised and expanded edition) by Mary Jean Madigan

“For centuries, it was traditional for the owner or chief official of a glasshouse to design the shape and decoration of the glass produced. This was certainly true during Frederick Carder’s years at Steuben, when he functioned not only as the company’s administrative head, but also as its chief designer. When Arthur Houghton reorganized Steuben in 1933, he broke with tradition by handing total responsibility for design over to John Monteith Gates, and separating the design department physically from the factory. Under Gates’s direction, Steuben designer were headquartered in their own atelier in New York City away from Corning, where they would not interact with the blowers and therefore remain unconstrained by the fetters of glassmaking tradition. In New York, too, were the museums, galleries and other sources of design inspiration that Houghton deemed essential to the design process. Houghton himself enjoyed taking Steuben designers to the great museums of Europe, where they could absorb masterpieces of art. Steuben’s design department remained in New York City for nearly sixty years, until it was moved to Corning during a corporate reorganization in 1989.”

Webmaster’s Selection
This is a Steuben vase shape 312 in Selenium Red. It has silver deposit decoration probably done by Alvin.