The Company, opened in 1967, is synonymous with the name Frank Thrower, a colourful and extravagant character who became one of the most important figures in 1960s design. Thrower had worked for Wuidart as a salesman, and then with Portmeirion Pottery. In the early 1960s Portmeirion Pottery purchased Grays pottery, and started importing Swedish-made glass to Thrower’s designs, which were sold at the Grays showroom above the Portmerion outlet in Pont Street, Belgravia, run by Thrower and his second wife Inga. He visited Sweden with Euan Cooper-Willis and his wife Susan Williams-Ellis, where they were ‘impressed with the evident success of running small efficient family-run businesses in remote southern Swedish forests, selling products all over the world.’ A meeting between Euan Cooper-Ellis and Peter Sutcliffe of the Dartington Hall Trust, which was looking to expand its activities into north Devon, led to the setting up of the Dartington Crystal company on 12 June 1967, with Thrower as the designer, and Eskil Wilhelmson, from Sweden as the Managing Director. Thrower’s designs became an instant success, winning awards at the Design Centre in London, and by association with Terence Conran’s ‘Habitat’ stores. Thrower used the classic eighteenth century shapes of decanters, wineglasses and rummers, transforming them into contemporary wine suites. In 1982 Wedgwood acquired a fifty per cent interest in the company, Thrower continuing his role as chief designer, despite a decline in his health, until his death in 1987. A design team was then created, which included such names as Anita Harris, Jane Beebe, Belinda Hornsey, David Hayward and Charlie Meaker among others. In 2004 the factory suffered the same fate as many of its competitors and was bought by an American giftware firm. This was followed by a management buy-out, but by 2009 the glass-blowing teams were reduced to a fraction of their previous numbers, and most glass was sourced from Eastern Europe and beyond.

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