[PA-NJ Glassblowers] 1st Century Roman Glassblower was the First Marketing Brand Manager
Tony Patti
gaffer at glassblower.info
Sun Mar 29 10:58:01 EDT 2015
http://gizmodo.com/the-first-brand-name-was-a-1st-century-roman-glassblowe-1
693509526
<http://gizmodo.com/the-first-brand-name-was-a-1st-century-roman-glassblowe-
1693509526> The First Brand Manager Was a 1st Century Roman Glassblower
By <http://kcampbelldollaghan.kinja.com/> Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan on
3/25/2015
Ennion made me. Those were the words molded on glass vases and jars that
survived centuries of dust, change, and trauma all over the classical world.
But who was Ennion? And how, in the early years of the world, did his
glassware become so famous?
We don't know much about him: He was a craftsman in modern-day Lebanon, and
a revolutionary one at that. Ennion was the first (known) glassmaker to blow
glass into a mold, forming the molten glass into fine decorative details and
unusual shapes. This was unheard of, and it made Ennion into a commercial
phenomenon in the Roman world. His work has been discovered all over Europe
and the Middle East, from "Israel to Spain," according to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
<http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2014/ennio
n> whose exhibition about Ennion runs until April this year. There are even
fake copies of his work made by other shops.
But Ennion wasn't just prolific. He was also proud, and smart, and knew the
value of what 21st century consumers think of as a "brand name." So unlike
many craftsmen and women, Ennion didn't just sign his pieces or put his name
on the bottom: He made his name part of the work. You'll see the Greek
letters for "Ennion epoiese," or "Ennion made me," framed by a jug (meta!),
as though the words and jug were the whole point of the design:
And he had copy-cats! Ennion's exacting molds always hid the seams by
integrating them into the design, and that's exactly how modern-day scholars
have exposed some copies as fakes, says E. M. Stern in
<http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Mold-blown-Glass-through-Centuries/dp/887062916
3?tag=gizmodoamzn-20&ascsubtag=3a9a5d7456b178427fa92f1367bc6810d0f3daab&rawd
ata=%5Br%7Chttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F%5Bt%7Clink%5Bp%7C1693509526%5Ba%7
C8870629163%5Bau%7C5867089686160811513> Roman Mold-blown Glass:
Four unsigned jugs previously attributed to Ennion's workshop have recently
been identified as ancient copies, because the mold seams between the
vertical sections are not integrated into the design but run vertically
between palmettes.
Even in the first century AD, workshops were trying their best to jack other
peoples' work.
It's interesting to wonder whether Ennion, who clearly was focused on the
present, his business, and his craft, ever considered the way his products
would last. Were there other people who made better glass, or even used his
techniques first? Either way, Ennion was the one who made it in such volume
that at least some of those products would survive thousands of years. It's
less "survival of the fittest" than "survival of the most ubiquitous."
What objects from our world will survive 2,000 years, into the next
civilization? There's plenty more from the 21st century than the 1st. But
odds seem good that it will be the mass-produced objects-the branded ones
that, maybe like Ennion's, were so popular that a few are bound to survive.
Check out a few more Ennion pieces below-and be sure and
<http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2014/ennio
n> stop by the Met if you're in New York over the next few weeks.
The original web page also includes an animated gif image of glass being
blown into a three-part wood mold, it is fun to watch:
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--R6Imni7L--/c_fit,fl_prog
ressive,q_80,w_636/sd07rwcw8zvndlaiiwss.gif
(notice on the top of the mold sections, they are numbered with 1, 2, or 3
black lines where the sections join)
Tony Patti
<http://www.glassblower.info> www.glassblower.info
<mailto:gaffer at glassblower.info> gaffer at glassblower.info
<http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info
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