Czech Footprint:
Crystal for the Whole World

A scene that looks like it comes straight from an old painting. Glassmakers continue to use the same techniques and tools as in they did in centuries past – blowpipes and wooden or metal moulds. They adroitly conjure up glass marvels on a raised wooden workshop built around a furnace that emits a brilliant glow.

At that time, the doyens of clear glass, commonly called crystal, were the glassmakers in Murano, the series of islands near Venice. Though these master glassmakers protected the secrets of their production processes jealously, they must have let their guard down at some point. Their knowledge made its way to Bohemia, where the local glassmakers not only imitated, but actually perfected, the production of clear glass with added lead oxide. They made such a good job of it that, at the turn of the 17th century, the Czech Lands became the production hub of the finest glass in the known world. The sheer hardness of Bohemian crystal made it ideal for further processing – engraving and grinding.

Preciosa’s glassmakers have created lights for more than fifty interiors at the new Raffles Hotel and Zorlu Shopping Centre in Istanbul. This exquisitely “dishevelled” chandelier can be found in the foyer next to the hotel lobby.

People who assemble the final chandelier from dozens, and sometimes even hundreds, of parts also have to handle hot glass. They wear gloves and exercise extreme caution.

Glassblowers scoop up molten glass of up to 1,400 °C on to their blowpipes. It runs like honey and, indeed, needs to be worked in much the same way as honey. Quickly and precisely, with only the barest movements necessary. They transfer the glowing ball into a mould, spin it with their blowpipe and blow, sometimes more, sometimes less. Then they add another large dollop to their work in progress and again spin and blow, or gently toss it change the shape, and then they tease out the ornamentation with pliers.

Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing’s Chaoyang district. It is illuminated with chandeliers made in collaboration with Design studio living in such a remote country.

This is the process that goes into making the small, large and even giant chandeliers that illuminate world parliaments, theatres, opera houses, hotels and most recently – under the Maritime programme launched by Preciosa a few years ago – luxury yachts and ocean liners. That said, the target group extends beyond the cream of the crop – unlike the past, today’s quality lights are not just the preserve of the rich. Each piece, though standardised and catalogued with a number, is produced by hand, making it an original.

Tour de France trophies are made of crystal to represent what a precious award they are. For several years now, they have been designed by ŠKODA Design and made by glassmakers in northern Bohemia. The trophies are created by using manual processes to blow glass into a mould and then grind it.