workbench

Leopold Blaschka ordered this lampworking bench for Rudolf Blaschka in 1876, when Rudolf became an official partner in their business. Leopold commissioned a well-known Bohemian family of music organ builders to fabricate this bench with bellows positioned right under the tabletop. Regional styles differed, but this bellows position is typical of Bohemian lampworking benches. Lampworking (the technique of forming objects from glass rods over a flame) was often a cottage industry, so benches had to be small enough to tuck into the corner of a worker’s home. The bench design’s most distinctive aspect is the accordion-style bellows made of two wooden frames on the underside of the table. Moving the treadle (pedals) up and down forces air from the lower chamber into the upper chamber of the bellows. The air delivery system, now missing from this bench, supplied air from the bellows to the flame, a necessary component for the bench to work. This ingenious design produced a constant, even airflow instead of quick bursts, allowing the Blaschkas precise control of the paraffin- or alcohol-fueled flame necessary to make their intricately detailed models.