Andries Dirk Copier (1901-1991) is the best known 20th-century Dutch glass artist and a precursor of the international studio glass movement. At the age of twenty-seven, he was already managing the Leerdam Glass Factory, the largest of its kind in the Netherlands. There he was able to freely develop aesthetically alongside extensive work in designing utilitarian glass. The works that grew out of that artistic experimentation are called Unica. Even after he retired, Copier continued to work at the world's leading glass centres in Murano, the US, Sweden,France and the Czech Republic. Copier called the Unica objects he produced during that period "autonomous glass". The present book focuses on the artistic development of Unica glass. Some 60 Unica pieces are shown and analysed. Nor is the work Copier produced as an industrial designer neglected. Particularly important examples of designs for utilitarian objects are also shown.

Introduction

The city of Leerdam and the factory

Modern utility glass

Leerdam Unica

Design ideas for utility glass Ⅰ

Leerdam Unica

Design ideas for utility glass Ⅱ

Leerdam Unica

Designs for porcelain and other materials, 1952-1958

Leerdam Unica

Aturning point in the history

of modern glass, 1962

Studio Glass / "Autonomous Glass" (Unica), 1978-1991

Appendix