Flavio Poli

Of all the art glass designed in the fifties/sixties, Poli's is, for me, the most breathtaking. I visited Barry Friedman's gallery in New York in 1981, when my interest in Poli was at its height, to ask if he had one. It was a long shot, as they were rare as hen's teeth. He took me to a large back room, where folding tables lined the perimeter like a classroom. Laying flat (as they are tall, thin and unstable) were approximately twenty five of these. In his usual MO, he'd snapped up every one in his known world, probably for a song, over a two year period. They were worth about $6,000 each, shortly after.