Bar Collection Celebrates Its 90th Birthday

The glassworks’ managing director at the time, Egon Ritter, foresaw the talent of designers Rudolf Eschler and Arnold Zadikow. During the 1930s, they designed drinkware collections, bowls, chalices, toiletry kits, and perfume flacons for the glassworks that were met with success when presented at international expos, and today they belong to the family jewels at Moser.

Functionalism or Beauty & Utility

The Bar Collection was created by the first designer mentioned above: Rudolf Eschler, who flawlessly impressed into it the principles of functionalism – a contemporary style reflected not only in glass and porcelain but also in architecture and furniture. Today, names like Adolf Loos, Jindřich Halabala, Bohuslav Fuchs, Ladislav Sutnar, and Rudolf Eschler are household names and their works are admired by many worldwide.

For functionalist designers, beauty and utility were inseparable. They adhered purely to geometric shapes and simple, smooth forms with no adornments. Their motto was “Form follows function”.

Rudolf Eschler managed to convey functionalism in crystal. In the Bar Collection, he inventively combined the squared platform of the glasses, carafes, water jugs, and bowls with their circular shape. The result was a notably timeless set that has remained a Moser bestseller for 90 years. It enchants with its elegant lines that play with the light as it elegantly refracts across the curved glass. And the ingenious cut creates the illusion of melting ice cubes inside the glass.

The Age of Jazz

The crystal Bar Collection reflects the lifestyle of the 1930s, a fascinating time full of incredible inventions involving electricity and the people’s desire for modernity, success, and fun. The name “Bar” mirrors the phenomenon of this era’s bars – places that played jazz music and where stars from the silver screen and everyday people could be seen elegantly sipping their favourite drink.

The Bar Collection was met with success when presented at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life in 1937. Together with other amazing products from other Czechoslovak companies, it was displayed at the functionalist pavilion designed by Jaromír Krejcar and Ladislav Sutnar, and it proudly represented the level of advancement of inter-war Czechoslovakia.

New anniversary pieces

To celebrate the 90 years of the Bar Collection, Moser now presents a limited edition of – you guessed it – 90 sets featuring 2 glasses and a carafe of pure crystal. Each bears its own number from 1 to 90 and is adorned with a golden letter ‘M’. But that’s not all. We also draped the functionalist bowls from this collection in new, never-before-used colours: rose, aurora, and reseda. And what sort of celebration would it be without a toast? For the Bar’s 90th and on popular demand, we once again returned the champagne glasses from this collection to the Moser portfolio. Cheers!