In the dining room of the György Ráth Villa in Budapest (see previous post L) was a table, set as if expecting guests. Glass plates, wine glasses and a decanter adorned said table, created by a contemporary glass artist to complement both the objects in the Ráth collection as well as the Art Nouveau feel of the place.
Of the strikingly beautiful creations displayed on the table, it was the wine glasses, with their curved stems and colourful tops, that drew my attention. They seemed each to be completely unique and yet connected to one another as a set, interacting with each other as well as with their surroundings.
Back home, and back in my studio, that set inspired my own interpretation. Those wine glasses in the Gyorgy Rath Villa, now so far away in Budapest, had seemed to be a part of a wider story. And so, I decided to create three sets of glasses to fit my own narrative – that of a dinner party. Three sets of glasses which were different and yet linked, with the idea that they were interacting, conversing and maybe even gossiping with one another.
The resulting sets mirror three seasons as stages of this dinner party – spring blooms in the form of tulip shaped glasses for champagne on arrival; open summer flowers for wine with the meal; and autumnal shaded seed heads for a strong drink with coffee.
There is a very wonderful trilogy of novels by Miklos Banffy, set in Hungary/Romania before the First World War, with the translated titles ‘They were counted’, ‘They were divided, ‘They were found wanting’. In deference to these, I think of these three sets of glasses as ‘They met’, ‘They talked’ and ‘They parted’.
