Pirelli Glass: from
the Glass Encyclopedia

Pirelli Glass Ltd. were located in Potters Bar, London and are best known for their imaginative and humorous glass animals. The company was formed by George Dunlop in 1945 and operated for forty years, finally going into liquidation in 1985.

From 1949 onwards George Dunlop's Pirelli Glass was an agent for Vasart glass (made by the Ysart family in Scotland) and a black and silver label was applied to some Vasart pieces, which read "Pirelli Glass Hand Made in Scotland".

Salvador and Augustine Ysart died in the mid-50s leaving only Vincent Ysart at Vasart (Paul Ysart was still working for the Moncrieff Glassworks). Vincent seemed to lose heart in the business, which was struggling to make a profit and remain viable.

George Dunlop was regarded as "well heeled" coming up from London in his Lanchester limousine to collect Vasart vases and paperweights. Sometimes things were so bad at Vasart that he had to write a cheque for the wages to keep them going. In 1956 he stepped in as a partner in the restructured Vasart Glass, and the traditional etched "Vasart" signature was replaced with a black and silver label very similar to the Pirelli glass label referred to above.

The advertisement below appeared in the magazine "Pottery and Glass" in April 1958. It shows seven glass figures as well as some glassware decorated with flowers and birds. In 1957 Pirelli Glass made a set of five glass figures commissioned by the Guiness company and featuring glasses and bottles of Guiness. You can see pictures of these and read more about Pirelli Glass in Angela Bowey and Bob Martin's book Pirelli Glass (click here).

The picture below shows part of Angela's collection of Pirelli barware (corkscrews, tin openers, a letter opener and a bottle stopper). Each of these has a Vasart paperweight attached at the top.

1: Pirelli Glass by Angela Bowey with Bob Martin, published 2016 . Available from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk or in New Zealand directly from the author as a paperback book. Also available as a Kindle book.

2: London Lampworkers: Your Guide to Pirelli, Bimini and Komaromy Glass (London Lampworkers Trilogy) by Angela Bowey with Bob Martin, Christine Burley, and Raymond Berger, published 2013.

3: Pirelli Glass by Frank Andrews, 2003.

4: Paperweights from Great Britain by John Simmonds, 2003 (brief mention and picture on page 91 - good information on the Ysarts).

INFORMATION about Pirelli Glass!
An excellent guide to Pirelli Glass with a detailed history of the company and its products. High quality colour photographs to assist in identifying their range of quality lamp-work glass and other glassware. The cost of the book more than fully recouped from confirming the identity of some of my own collection. (review by Alsretro, from the UK). Click on this book cover for more information.





The first part of this Trilogy on three London Lampworkers covers Pirelli, Bimini, and Komaromy. If you are interested in Pirelli glass you are sure to enjoy this one. It is available as a paperback book or as a downloadable Kindle.

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