Reuben Haley

Haley recognized design trends and applied them in a workable way to glass. Son of Jonathan Haley, a mold-maker and inventor of machinery, Reuben Haley was a well-schooled in the workings of glass. He began his career in the metals trade as a die-marker, but shortly thereafter went to work as a glass designer. Haley’s work as chief designer for the huge U.S. Glass Co. trust, based in Pittsburgh, exposed him to the vast consumer market for glass.

Haley was aware of the latest styles in art and design ans was able to capture them in glass. His design work shows the influence of the fine and decorative arts. He borrowed freely from the work of other glass designers, such as the French designer René Lalique. Haley also borrowed ideas freely from other media—from “Cubism,” for instance, in the visual arts—and applied them to glass. Finally, this local designer knew how to package his products, choosing color and pattern names and presenting them attractively in advertisements, to create an image that made the glass desirable to the consumer.