A wonderful rich turquoise hand-blown and pressed tall glass vase, made in Czechoslovakia in the late ’50s – early ’60s. Would make a wonderful lamp base as well.

Borske Sklo (‘Borske Glassworks’), a glass maker in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), specialised in blown and pressed glass. Communist state ownership of glassworks from 1948 made self expression risky. In 1957, however, Czech glass was exhibited internationally for the first time since the Communist takeover, to much acclaim. From then on, creativity was encouraged and vases such as these ‘Olives’ patterns resulted. The glass was blown, then moulded and hand finished, with a flat polished rim. These large vases are increasingly hard to find.