A Late 20th Century crystal "The Circuit" art glass moto racing sculpture paperweight by, Daum. and designed by, Xavier Froissart. The crystal glass sculpture depicts a moto racer with bent knee leaning into curve giving it a realistic ook and one that is in motion. circa 1987
Measurements:
height: 3-1/2" x length: 5.5 in.
Signature:
Signed "DAUM France"
Biography:
Xavier Froissart was the designer of the Signature series of Daum's crystal car collection. He has always been fascinated by cars and their design, and invented the crystal car concept in 1983 for Daum. A year later, in 1984, the Coupé Riviera was launched, the first crystal car Daum ever made. This item became a commercial success worldwide within a few months The five first crystal cars (Riviera, Eldorado, Monoplace, Limousine, Grand Prix) Xavier designed were dream cars, a hommage to different periods in automobile history. Then it was decided with Daum to produce reproductions of famous cars, which Xavier was very involved with. See the list of cars he designed below. With not only the cars, but also with the trains, boats, and planes Xavier designed for Daum, the idea was to introduce new themes in the domain of decorative objects, themes linked to the twenteth century and to the discovery of speed and movement. Xavier Froissart is a descendant of the Daum family : Antonin Daum (1864-1930), the founder of the Daum company with his brother Auguste, was Xavier's great-grandfather. Antonin's daughter Antoinette Daum (1899-1986), who married Pierre Froissart, was Xavier's paternal grandmother. Until the 1980s, the Daum company was managed succesively by Xavier's uncles Michel Daum, Jacques Daum and Pierre de Chérisey-Daum. After Xavier studied art in Paris, Pierre de Chérisey-Daum invited him to work as a free-lance designer at Daum, and he created the Coupé Riviera which was his first crystal piece. Xavier had a close collaboration with Daum all through the 1980s and went on designing for them until the mid-1990s.
