Art Deco Decanter and Whiskey Glasses by Karl Palda

A stylized Czech Decanter Set with deep red and black designs – the work of innovative and forward-thinking artist Karl Palda.  The glasses are an especially nice size- not the tiny shot glasses that often accompany decanter sets of this type, but a size that is perfect for a serious drink of bourbon, scotch or whiskey served with a single ice cube. The combination of clear, frosted, and fluted glass is further enhanced by the two tones of crimson and ebony in sleek modernist and geometric shapes.

The Deco crystal and glassworks of Bohemia were so advanced. Their history dates all the way back to the 13th Century in the Bohemian region of Haida/ Novy  Bor. The things they produced in the 1920s and 30s were at the forefront of cubism, and the avant-garde.  In fact, crystal glassware like this was the reason that Czechoslovakia was second only to France in the number of medals and awards won at the 1925 Exposition des Artes Decorative in Paris  (from which the term Art Deco was born ).

The Sklarske  Museum of Bohemian Glass in this region of the Czech Republic has beautiful examples, while the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York has the original Catalogue Pages for Palda designs from the 1930s.

Original Karl Palda Catalogue Page from the 1930s

courtesy of Driving for Deco