“Collecting runs in the genes,” says Lisa Lawson, whose penchant for paperweights is equaled by that of her niece, Denise Whittington. Lisa acquired her first paperweight in 1989, Denise in 1997 when she and her husband were living in New Zealand. Soon, word spread and they were receiving weights from family and friends. Between them, the duo now has hundreds, each treated more as a work of art than an office accessory.
Paperweights were initially designed with just function in mind, as lifeless lumps of glass or metal used to anchor paper bills and letters against breezes wafting into offices through opened windows. By the mid 1800s, however, an entire industry emerged to serve this purpose in a more stylish way. Factories in France, followed by England and America, built on Italian glass-making traditions to reimagine paperweights as objets d’art for the desktop. Baccarat in France and America’s Boston & Sandwich were famed producers, as was Tiffany & Co.
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