Peter Dreiser MBE (Hon.), possibly Britain’s greatest 20th Century copper wheel engraver on glass, has died after an extensive battle with cancer.

Born in Cologne in 1936, Peter turned his wartime misfortune and lack of education to his advantage when he encountered the new glass school at Rheinbach, founded in 1948 with the cream of the Czech Bohemian engravers.

He came to Britain to find work and it was only by building his own lathe and beginning to engrave glass from a cupboard at home that he began his career, finally working as Thomas Goode’s resident engraver until he became a freelance glass artist.

For many years he worked on major pieces of crystal presented by royalty to foreign dignatories and for Her Majesty The Queen herself.

Peter also taught at Morley College for 25 years and many of his students went on to become engravers themselves.

Source

Glass Age