Palm Beach Furniture and Decorative Arts Online

Frederick Carder (1863–1963), a gifted English designer, managed Steuben Glass Works from its founding in 1903 until 1932. At the age of 14, Carder left school and joined his family’s pottery business in Brierley Hill, England. He studied chemistry and technology in night school. In 1879, he became fascinated with glassmaking after visiting the studio of John Northwood, where he saw Northwood’s cameo glass replica of the Portland Vase, the most famous piece of ancient Roman cameo glass. One year later, on Northwood’s recommendation, Carder went to work as a designer at Stevens & Williams, a large English glassmaking company. There, as Northwood's chief assistant, he experimented with glass colors and designs. Carder moved to Corning in 1903 at the invitation of Thomas G. Hawkes, owner of Steuben. For the next 30 years, Carder had a free hand in designing that firm’s products and developing new colors and techniques. In 1932, when Steuben’s new president decided to concentrate on colorless glass, Carder left Steuben to become design director of Corning Glass Works. There he oversaw such large-scale projects as the making of cast panels for Rockefeller Center in New York City. As an octogenarian, he created smaller cast glass sculptures and other one-of-a-kind pieces. Carder’s glassmaking career ended in 1959, when, at the age of 96, he finally closed his studio.