Designer: Aldo Londi (1911 – 2003)

Item: Fritte Fused Glass Tall Bottle Vase

Manufactured by: Bitossi

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: 1950s

Materials: Chamotte stoneware, glaze and fused glass

Dimensions: 14 ¼” x 5 ½” x 3 ¾”

Condition: Excellent

Description: Here is a rare and very large and heavy Aldo Londi for Bitossi bottle vase in the Fritte fused glass series, with Londi’s classic Fish motif design. This vase was imported to and retailed in the United States by Raymor and bears its original label on the bottom as shown with the Bitossi initials for an original Londi design and manufactured product. However, these and the Rimini Blue Londi designs for Bitossi were also made for import to Denmark explicitly for the Illums Bolighus department store in Copenhagen. We have seen a couple of these vases with the impressed Illums Bolighus mark in the ceramic and bearing its foil label. They were also illustrated in some of the Illums Bolighus sales catalogs from the period. We have attached a photo from a 1961 catalog showing this exact vase.

Aldo Londi was a painter, sculptor and ceramicist.  He started his career with Cav. G. Bitossi & Figli in 1946 serving as the artistic director from 1946 until 1976 and then staying on for the remainder of his life as a major design contributor.  He experimented extensively throughout his life with various glaze techniques and styles and some of his forms and glazes have become iconic Italian modern design classics from the midcentury period. But the Fritte fused glass glazed pieces are the hardest to find and command some of his design’s highest prices.

References: Illums Bolinghus sales catalogs from the late 1950s and early 1960s