Inspired by Cubist paintings at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, American designer Reuben Haley created the Ruba Rombic line of mold-blown glassware in the late 1920s. Haley derived the unusual name from ruba’i, a Persian poetry genre and rhombic, describing a geometric shape with no right angles. The angular, frenetic and multi-faceted forms—nearly forty in the series all together—were produced in a variety of stunning gem tones and when the line debuted in 1928, a trade journal called it, “the craziest thing ever brought out in glassware”. Ruba Rombic became the Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company’s most popular line and when the Great Depression halted production, the molds were sent to the Phoenix Glass Company for a limited run. Throughout the 1930s, the line was offered at affordable prices in department stores across America and the mesmerizing forms remain highly desirable to this day.
The craziest thing ever brought out in glassware...The first reaction is all but shock, yet the more pieces are studied, the more they appeal and there comes a realization that with all their distorted appearance they have a balance that is perfect and are true specimens of cubist art.
Exerpt from a 1928 trade magazine
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