Page 147 - Demo

145In the 1960s and 1970s we started drinking wine, and eating Jatz crackers with cheese and cabanossi.While it wouldn%u2019t be entirely correct to say that many Australians drank straight from puddles during the first part of the twentieth century, it is fair to say that how and what we drank, and what we drank out of, wasn%u2019t particularly sophisticated. Early on, we drank a lot of beer and port, but in the 1960s and 1970s, we started drinking wine and eating Jatz crackers with cheese and cabanossi. Australia had changed. We were entertaining more, and the influx of European migrants had started to make an impact on our palates. Spaghetti bolognese became an Aussie mainstay, and suddenly we weren%u2019t washing it down with a beer any more. Instead, we were rolling out the flagons, casks and even bottles of the grapey good stu%u00a0 . Sydney-based Crown Corning was in the right place at the right time to ride this wave, and senior designer Denise Larcombe found it so exciting that she %u2018just wanted to be a part of it%u2019. Denise had enrolled in a fashion design course but changed to industrial design after being inspired by the %u2018modern%u2019 design that had found its way to Australia in the 1960s, particularly from Scandinavia. She joined the company in 1967 and produced a series of award-winning designs that could soon be found in cupboards across the country. One of the most successful was her Hunter range, an elegant series of glasses that was produced with the support of Crown Corning technician Frank Davhigi. Frank developed the technology to inject a small air bubble into the%u00a0 base, replicating a technique that had previously only been found in hand production. According to Denise, their competitors couldn%u2019t work out how they did it, and the only way they could compete was by trying to poach Frank. The Hunter range of glassware became a favourite as gifts both here and abroad. They were particularly popular in Europe, and even in Scandinavia, where Denise had gained such inspiration, and which has an incredibly rich history in glass design. So whether you were sipping a glass of Summer Wine or Spumante, or using them for chocolate mousse, let%u2019s raise a glass to the Hunter, a smashing example of the intersection of Australian innovation and design. YEAR 1977DESIGNER Denise Larcombe with Frank DavhigiMANUFACTURER Crown Corning