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Perhaps Littleton's best-known body of work is his “Topological Kerosene. In 1852, Dorflinger became one of the first glassmakers to
Geometry” group of series made between 1983 and 1989. Included specialize in manufacturing Kerosene lamps and lamp chimneys. A year
under this heading are his signature “Arc” forms and “Crowns,” as well later, he moved the business to a new location in Brooklyn and renamed
as his late “Lyrical Movement” and “Implied Movement” sculptural it the Long Island Flint Glass Works. By 1856, Dorflinger had added a
groups. In 1989, chronic back problems forced Littleton to retire from cutting shop and had begun producing rich-cut glass tableware in
working in hot glass but not continuing to create and educate. addition to the company’s commercial products.
In 1860, Dorflinger built a larger glass factory, the Greenpoint Flint
Max Erlacher (1933-2022): Master Engraver Glass Works, on the northern edge of Brooklyn, and in partnership with
Nathaniel Bailey, a vice president at the Greenpoint Savings Bank,
Max Roland Erlacher is considered an engraving formed C. Dorflinger & Co. to own and operate the new glass works.
legend in the “Crystal City” of Corning, New The Greenpoint works included a blowing shop to produce blanks for
York but his reputation and influence as a master cutting, a cutting shop, wharf facilities, and housing for the factory’s
engraver extend far beyond upstate New York. workers. In less than a decade, Dorflinger had moved from being the new
Today, his work can be found in the homes of kid on the block to a leader of New York’s glass industry, operating the
past Presidents and dignitaries, Stueben collectors, newest and most advanced glass factories in the city.
museums around the world, and in the shop and Dorflinger’s first big break came a year later, when in 1861 the new
studio he and his wife Kitty opened in downtown company received an order to produce a set of rich cut and engraved
Corning, NY in 1974, and where his work is still glassware with the U.S. Coat of Arms for the Lincoln White House.
on display. The stemware for the Lincoln service was light and delicate, with
Born in Austria in 1933, a young Max fine diamond cutting and an elaborate ivy engraved border. Given its
witnessed Austrian master engraver Herman exceptional beauty and craftsmanship, it is not surprising that the Lincoln
Schiller create an engraved glass work of art. Instantly, he realized he set was used as the state glass service in the White House for 30 years. The
wanted to pursue a career as an engraver. Later, Schiller became his Lincoln service established Dorflinger'’s reputation for excellence in glass-
teacher at a glass technical school in Kramsach, Tyrol, Austria. making and set the stage for the company's success for decades to come.
While working on his artistic skills, Max also studied anatomy to From that point on through the late 1880s, Dorflinger grew his
understand the human form. Max recalls, “First, I had to model my business and opened a succession of new, modern factories outfitted with
engraving in clay bas-relief to envision the depth and scale of the engraving. state-of-the-art glassmaking techniques. Another acknowledgment of his
Then I engraved my design in glass.” success came at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 when
In 1957, Erlacher moved to Corning, New York after being certified the Dorflinger Glass Company received a certificate of award for its glass
as a Master Engraver to work as a master engraver for the Steuben Glass table wares. The heavily cut glassware exhibited at the Centennial
Co. He learned about Steuben Glass from advertisements and from its Exposition began what is now known as the “Brilliant Period” of cut
esteemed reputation within art glass circles. glassmaking in America, which continued until about 1917. During this
Over the years, Erlacher became one of the most renowned engravers period, the Dorflinger companies made fine glass tableware for every U.S.
at Steuben; a master of cold working techniques and copper, stone, and Presidential Administration, foreign governments, and wealthy families
diamond engraving. across America.
While at Steuben, Erlacher engraved such one-of-a-kind, landmark
pieces as a portrait of Albert Einstein that is now in the Smithsonian, the Dr. Allen DeVilbiss (1840-1917): Glass Innovator
Crusader Bowl bought by President and Mrs. Reagan as a wedding gift
for Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles (which took 670 hours), While most influencers in the glass trade
PT109 engraving for President John F. Kennedy, a piece President had some background in glassmaking,
Johnson gave to Nikita Khrushchev, and a longhorn steer and cowboy Allen DeVilbiss was an outlier. Dr. Allen
called Trail Rider for President Johnson. DeVilbiss was a medical doctor specializing
In 1974, Max started his own business, Erlacher Glass, with his wife in nose and throat medicine who devised a
Kitty, creating beautiful works of art in engraved glass that were given as spray atomizer for medical purposes and in
gifts to former presidents and other dignitaries. Until his passing in 2022, the process revolutionized the packaging of
he continued to be inspired by his craft through numerous glass perfume and inspired the artistry of the
collaborations with other artists and working on projects for museums perfume bottle.
and private collectors. Dr. DeVilbiss created the spray atomizer
On its blog in a tribute to his passing, the Corning Museum of Glass as an alternative to swabbing goose grease and Vaseline on the throats and
wrote of Erlacher, “To the people of Corning and the wider, global glass nasal passages of cold sufferers. He held the atomizer, made out of a
community, he was a true pillar of glassmaking craft.” rubber bulb, a piece of metal tubing cut from a discarded surgical
instrument, and the base from an oil can, over a flame to melt the
Christian Dorflinger (1828-1915): semi-solid that he then sprayed in mist form directly on the affected areas.
Dr. DeVilbiss took his invention to several leading medical supply
American Cut Glass Industrialist manufacturing companies, but none were interested.
Not discouraged, he founded the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company
Christian Dorflinger, born in 1828 in in Toledo, Ohio, in 1888. The company’s primary purpose was to
Rosteig, in the Alsace region of France, grew manufacture and sell DeVilbiss-invented spray atomizers, designed to
up to build one of the leading glass companies apply soothing medicinal coatings to patients’ throats. It was his son,
in America in the late 19th and early 20th Thomas, who joined the company in 1905, who convinced his father to
centuries, producing some of the finest cut go into the perfume atomizer business, capitalizing on the company’s
glass tableware of the period. spray technology and its established retail network of drug stores.
Dorflinger began his apprenticeship at the Thomas got the green light for his ‘perfume atomizer’ in 1907 and was
age of 10 with an uncle at the Cristalleries de responsible for many of the unusual designs that would become the
Saint-Louis in Lorraine to learn the glassmaking hallmark of the DeVilbiss atomizer. A number of his designs were unique
trade. In 1846, having completed his appren- enough to be patentable.
ticeship, he persuaded his recently widowed Always looking for something new and exciting, the public bought up
mother to emigrate the family from France to these new inventions and in a few short years, the “perfumizers” outsold
America in search of better opportunities, arriving in 1846. the company’s medical atomizers.
Through an acquaintance he met in New York City, Dorflinger, with The first DeVilbiss atomizers were simple clear glass salt shakers that
his glassmaking skills, was asked to lead a new company being formed to were fitted with plain metal atomizer mounts. DeVilbiss marketed these
make lamps and lamp chimneys for the recently developed Coal Oil or as “perfumizers.” You will most likely find these early atomizers stamped
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