Dorothy Thorpe

Dorothy Thorpe was a glass designer active in the mid-twentieth century. Thorpe was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1901 and graduated from Bringham Young University and the University of Utah. Thorpe had no formal design training. She settled in southern California following her marriage to George A.Thorpe in 1923. Thorpe started experimenting with glass as a hobby, making tumblers from beer bottles and wrapping wine bottles in raffia. She distributed her first pieces through a small Hollywood gift shop and her client list grew to include movie stars and Princess Grace of Monaco. Her brother worked for MGM Studios, where he took some of her early designs, seen by Clark Gable who purportedly ordered six... more.