Bimini & Orplid

Last week I was lucky enough to find these in a mixed jar of buttons that I bought ...

They are 1950's blue glass Orplid (Bimini) buttons in perfect condition with stamped backplates.  If you are interested in the story of Bimini I have written a potted history below:

Fritz Lampl, born in Vienna in 1892 ... dreamer, poet and artist, but with enough savvy to run a successful business for many years.  When visiting an exhibition in Berlin where he saw fantasy shapes blown in glass Fritz was fascinated and enraptured.  Describing the pieces he saw as 'poetry materialised', he decided that he too would produce 'frozen poetry' in glass.

 He employed an out-of-work glassblower, rented a basement and invited his brother-in-law to design the fantasy shapes.  He named his new company 'Bimini', taken from the name of an island in an unfinished fictional German poem by Heinrich Heine.

As the business grew a flowerpot logo was designed, craftsmen employed and a workshop set up.  They began to produce beautiful fluid glass figurines such as these:

The business grew and they won several prizes at the 1925 Paris Exhibition, also exhibiting at various other shows throughout Europe and the US.  However, the rise of Nazism in Austria meant it was no longer safe for Jews to live and work there and in 1938 Fritz was forced to flee with his wife to the UK.  The rise in secret Nazi organisations forced them to distrust everyone and they left in total secrecy.  Fritz's assistant arrived for work the day after they fled to find the premises abandoned.  She later donated many of the glass items to the Applied Arts Museum in Vienna.

In 1938 Fritz relaunched his venture in Soho, London under the new name Orplid (again from a poem - this time by E Morike).  In 1940 Fritz and his wife were interned as enemy aliens (along with thousands of other refugees) and when released several months later he was to find his Soho premises flattened by enemy bombing.

Undeterred, he started again, this time focusing on smaller objects such as buttons, brooches and hat pin tops.  He also employed ceramicist and potter, Lucie Rie, to make small ornaments.  She went on to become a major player in the world of ceramics.  Always grateful to Fritz for giving her work in hard times, a photo of Fritz was the only adornment on the walls of her London studio.

Photo from Wooley and Wallis Auctioneers Saleroom Catalogue

 

The popularity of Fritz's work was growing rapidly and he was feted in Vogue and other prestigious design and interior magazines worldwide.  He even appeared as the hero of a children's book published in 1945 called 'The Mystery of the Pink Elephants'.

During the mid 1950's however, cheap mass produced imports of glass products from central Europe started to break Orplid's monopoly and Fritz's efforts to compete took their toll on his health.  In 1955 he died of a heart attack, followed months later by his wife.  With no children to take on the business, Bimini and Orplid ceased to exist.  The legacy lives on through the much sought after glass figures that still remain.

Little Birdie Colibri,
Lead us on to Bimini
Fly ahead and we shall follow
In beflagged barges hollow;

On the Isle of Bimini
Reigns eternal ecstasy
And the golden larks are singing
In the Blue their tirili ...