in the space of ten years he was largely responsible for what The Times described as a revolution in British glass design
Designed by Frank Thrower in 1971, ‘Sharon’ champagne flute was included in a V & A exhibition called ‘100 Best Ever Products’.
Frank Thrower was the creator and chief designer of Dartington Glass.
In the mid 1960s, when Dartington Hall was looking at the possibilities of starting a rural industry in North Devon, they consulted Euan Cooper-Willis, the founder of Portmeirion Pottery, whose children were at Dartington Hall School.
Euan put the Trustees in touch with Frank Thrower who was working for Portmeirion and, almost as a sideline, designing glassware made for the company in Sweden. Thus began one of Dartington’s most celebrated commercial enterprises. Frank Thrower and Dartington Glass became synonymous.
On Frank’s recommendation, Dartington’s Trustees recruited Eskil Vilhelmsson, a Swedish master glass blower. Eskil brought with him to North Devon seventeen glass blowers to work and to train local men at the new factory in Torrington.
Frank’s designs for the glassware were fresh, clean and simple – the antithesis of glassware made in Britain at that time – but for the first four years the products proved hard to sell.
In 1971 the company and the Dartington Trustees decided to invest in a dynamic advertising campaign and Dartington Glass never looked back.
Dartington is not just a beautiful place to visit. It attracts people with big ideas who want to change the world.