Our fern design was hugely popular in Victorian England, as was the fern itself.

During this era of explorers and inventors, there was a fern craze known as pteridomania – Fern Fever.

The English were passionate about gardening and natural history. It was a hobby enjoyed by everyone, not just the privileged few or the botanists, and then there was Fern Fever.

‘Gatherings’, which were allowed to include women, would meet regularly, to scour the forests, hills, streams and rocks, in order to find unusual or rare ferns. These were then taken by the finder and either cultivated in ferneries or placed in Wardian cases to grow and decorate the rooms . If they couldn’t be cultivated, then they were pressed in books, or used as stensils in decoration. So successful were these hunts that some fern species were all but wiped out.

As the passion spread, so did the fern and its image was used to decorate almost any surface. It could be found on furniture, cloth, engraved into wood, pressed onto wall paper, decorating pottery and of course, engraved onto glass.

The fern design works wonderfully with glassware. We have made it look a little more modern,  with the frond pattern wrapping itself elegantly around the bowl of each glass.

Hand engraved on a wheel it takes our artisans about ten minutes to create the patterns for each glass.

We hope you like it!