Vladimír ŽAHOUR

Academic sculptor and glass designer Vladimír Žahour was one of the most prominent figures in Czechoslovak glassware. Born in May 1925 in Železný Brod to a tailor’s family, his artistic journey began at the local State Vocational School for Glassmaking, which he successfully completed during the war years in 1943. He subsequently worked briefly as a glass cutter in Malá Skála, where his talent caught the attention of a refinery owner, enabling him to enroll at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague after World War II. There, he studied under Professor Karel Štipl in the studio focused on applied sculpture, glyptics, and glass engraving.

Following the completion of his studies and military service, Žahour faced political obstacles from the regime's cadre structures, which—treating him as the son of a private entrepreneur—sent him to a forced construction brigade. Thanks to Professor Štipl's intervention, however, he joined Prague's Institute of Housing and Fashion Design and, in 1954, permanently settled at the Poděbrady Glassworks. He initially worked in the drafting room there, where workshop head František Šorm noticed his undeniable talent, opening the door for his own creative work and a fundamental modernization of local production.

Žahour introduced a completely new sculptural approach to working with lead crystal. Instead of traditional decorations, he began utilizing structural and optical cuts that worked brilliantly with light. Among his iconic works were a slender vase with vertical relief and bevel cuts exhibited at the Milan Triennial, as well as exceptionally successful drinkware sets. His designs perfectly bridged artistic innovation with mass industrial production, with several of his collections comprising a major share of the glassworks' output and remaining in production for many years.

For his extraordinary work, he received numerous prestigious domestic and international awards. These included a gold medal at the Leipzig Fair, the Grand Prix at the Ljubljana Biennale, and awards at international glass and jewelry exhibitions in Jablonec nad Nisou. He successfully presented his work at world exhibitions, including Expo 58 in Brussels and Expo 67 in Montreal, and his pieces today reliably represent Czech glass art in leading world galleries and museums.