Either for his birthday or Christmas a few years ago, I bought Justin a vintage glass ram as a present; he’s an Aries, you see. For some reason, I’ve always thought that the ram (the left-hand one of the three animals in the top image of the montage… and the amber-coloured one beneath it) was produced by the Kosta Boda factory; it was, in fact, designed by Pavel Pánek.
Pánek (1945-2008) was born on December 2nd 1945 in Znojmo. In 1961, he graduated from the Glass School of Applied Arts in Železný Brod. For two years he worked as a drawing teacher at the apprentice school in Bohemia in Světlá nad Sázavou. In 1969, he became the designer of Sklo Union Teplice, later head of the art centre. After 1989, Pánek moved to the Rudolfov Dubí factory, then to AVIRUNION, where he worked until spring 1995.
I absolutely love his knobbly 5135 vases designed for Rosice Glassworks in 1972. I’d like an example in each colour, if you please! If you are as taken by his designs as I am, there are examples available on eBay and Etsy.
Czech glass (otherwise known as Bohemian glass) is so affordable in comparison to much of its Scandinavian relations. To me, many of the designs are just as attractive and skilful. I think Antiques Roadshow expert, Mark Hill, is in agreement. He has published a couple of books on the subject; SkLO: Czech Glass Design from the 1950s-70s and Hi Sklo Lo Sklo: 1950s-70s Czech Glass Design from Masterpiece to Mass-produced.
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