New Caithness Glass Book

Since it was founded in 1961, Caithness Glass has become renowned across the world. Today, it is known for its magnificent, high quality paperweight designs, but few realize that the company’s success was founded on vases, bowls, and decanters inspired by modern Scandinavian glass. Many were designed by the company’s innovative co-founder Domhnall ÓBroin, with skilled designers such as Charles Orr and Colin Terris building upon his considerable achievements.

Mark Hill Publishing Ltd is delighted to announce the publication of a new book to celebrate the company’s fiftieth anniversary in 2011. Produced to accompany a major travelling exhibition of glass from the Graham Cooley Collection, the book was produced in association with Domhnall ÓBroin’s daughter, as well as many of the best-loved designers and key figures in the company.

The book begins with a specially written introduction covering the life of Domhnall ÓBroin and the history of the company from 1961 until the present day, where designers and designs are set in context. Subsequent chapters then examine selected important designs from the early Modernist and Scandinavian-inspired mould blown ranges, to the striped and mottled ranges of the 1970s, the cut, engraved and sandblasted designs by masters such as Colin Terris, David Gulland, and Denis Mann, and the often complex ranges of the 1980s-2000s by celebrated designers such as Helen MacDonald, Alastair MacIntosh, and Gordon Hendry. The book closes with a section dedicated to colours, labels and boxes that also includes period advertisements and pages from company catalogues.

The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with over 200 specially commissioned full colour photographs of Caithness Glass designs by top glass photographer Graham Rae, as well as many hitherto unseen archive photographs of early and trial ranges, and the factory.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in – and prices being paid for – similar postwar glass by Whitefriars, King’s Lynn Glass, and Dartington Glass. Caithness glass, arguably the fourth and final key company of British postwar glass design, looks set to go the same way. Until now, the designs that built and maintained the company’s reputation from the 1960s-90s have been ignored and misunderstood – but all that is about to change with a ground-breaking exhibition, and this accompanying publication by BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist and antiques and collectables author Mark Hill. Whether you collect Caithness Glass or just love modern glass design, this book is essential for you.

About the book

‘Caithness Glass: Loch, Heather & Peat’
By Mark Hill, published by Mark Hill Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 978-0-9552865-5-1
240mm x 170mm portrait, 128 pages, softback
Price: £20 + postage & packing

To order your copy online, and pay securely via Paypal using a credit or debit card, or an existing Paypal account, visit www.markhillpublishing.com, and select ‘Caithness Glass’ from the dropdown ‘Books’ menu option. If you would like your book signed or dedicated by the author, please indicate this in your covering letter, or on the online order form.