To this day, Bohemia is the beating heart of European glass culture. The Bohemian glass industry has been providing innovative impulses for 800 years.
Since the Middle Ages, the abundance of forests and raw materials and the central traffic situation in Bohemia favored the settlement of glassworks. For urban societies, the church and the Prague court, the glaziers made representative glasses, which received their value and contemporary expression through flat and enamel glass painting and, from the Baroque period, through various decoration techniques such as glass cutting (glass engraving) and grinding. In the North Bohemian glass regions around Haida / Steinschönau (Nový Bor / Kamenický Šenov) and Gablonz (Jablonec nN), different craft professions emerged, including for use and decorative glasses, glass cases and mirrors, chandeliers and jewelry, which were exported all over the world. From the 19th century Industrial mass production and the artistic and handicraft design of luxury glasses complemented each other, which has given Czech glass a special position in international competition to this day.
Czech glass between tradition, design and globalization
After the end of the Iron Curtain and the privatization of the Czech glass industry, a multi-part, globalized production network for handmade glass was established in the Czech Republic.
Art and design studios, specialized handicrafts and suppliers cooperate closely with factories, vocational schools, technical colleges and universities and museums. Many manufacturers shifted from product range production to the customer-oriented development of custom-made products, e.g. for interior design orders. The companies use the markets of the former state-owned companies and continue to focus successfully on exporting high-quality luxury and niche products in glass. The scene thrives on the creative connection of traditional knowledge with the ideas of young Czech and international glass makers.