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Steuben Glass Company

American company
Written and fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
Table of Contents
Steuben crystal sculpture of Moby Dick
Open full sized image
Moby Dick, Steuben crystal sculpture designed by Donald Pollard and Sidney Waugh, first piece made in 1959. Length 28.6 cm.
Courtesy of Steuben Glass
Date:
1903 - 2011
Areas Of Involvement:
flint glass
manufacturing

Steuben Glass Company, glassworks founded in 1903 by T.G. Hawkes and Frederick Carder at Corning, New York. It was purchased by the Corning Glass Works in 1918 but continued to be directed by Carder until 1933. The company became known for fancy coloured glassware, particularly a type with an iridescent, translucent finish called Aurene. Another specialty was Intarsia glass, crystal glassware with soft, overlapping colour inlays. In the 1930s the firm began making glassware from a new colourless lead crystal developed by Corning. Steuben later manufactured fine glass products of cut, engraved, and free-blown designs made almost exclusively of that type of crystal glass. In 2008 Schottenstein Stores Corp. bought the company and sought to increase waning sales. However, Steuben continued to struggle financially, and in September 2011 Schottenstein announced that it was closing the glassworks. Steuben’s only factory shut down in November of that year.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.