Mid century modern Richard Sussmuth Smoke Grey Glass Decanter & Glasses

Richard Süssmuth grew up in Penzig, now southeastern Poland. Apprenticing at the same glassworks where his father worked, Suessmuth learned glass cutting. After that he worked in various glass finishing companies. From 1922 he studied glass design at the Academy for Applied Arts in Dresden and in 1924, he returned to Penzig to opened his own glass art workshop using glass produced at the local glassworks where he had started. By 1927, with his talents and work, he exhibited his handicrafts at the "European Arts and Crafts" fair in Leipzig and at the International Fair in Monza, Italy. His cut and etched glass designs were exhibited at the "Glass and Metal" exhibition in Berlin in 1928 and in Milan in 1931 and 1934. In 1929-30 his wares were part of a touring exhibition of European glass that toured nine major US cities. In 19323, he produced his first large scale glass windows and continued producing cut and etched windows for numerous buildings and churches throughout his career. Following WWII, he was expelled from Penzig, losing his business. In 1946, he rebuilt the glass works in Immenhausen, Germany that had been destroyed in 1945 and went back into business specializing in tableware. Throughout he next 25 years, he produced many award winning designs: gold medals at the International Handicrafts in Madrid in 1953 and a gold medal at the Triennale in Milan. He was also awarded gold medals at the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels and at the 1958 International Handicrafts Fair in Munich. In 1953 the German President gave him the National Merit Award (Steckkreuz) and in 1966 the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. As modernization hit the industry, Suessmuth found that the works needed to adapt and change, turning over his operations over to his employees in 1970. The factory closed in 1996.