CONTEMPORARY VASES

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FINEST CUT CRYSTAL

Cut crystal is lovely, traditional vases are always appropriate, but Czech contemporary vases are where the creativity of the crystal worker is set free to follow his (or her) heart.

Perfect on a dining table, filled with flowers, stunning in a window where it catches the sun, a lovely feature at the corner of a desk, fine cut crystal will always please. An excellent gift for someone who's taste is unknown to you because they never fail to enhance traditional or modern decor.

Give one to someone who's special or own one yourself. Who is more special than you?

We are proud to bring to the world these wonderful examples of what can be done with molten glass, worked, stretched, turned and drawn into stunning gift glass---whether the gift is for a lover, dear friend or merely yourself. Gaze through it and wonder how it's done.

Every piece in our collection is made entirely by hand, by craftsmen who trace their crystal working ancestry back for centuries, often in the same villages where they now live and work. We see them working the glass, young and old in leather aprons or shorts and running shoes, several generations side by side are reflected in the glare of the kiln.

Czech crystal, the presentation gift of kings for more than six centuries will remain in your family as a valued heirloom. This enduring tradition of craftsmanship assures you've made the right choice, sets you apart from the ordinary and shows you know your way around the world of fine craftsmanship.

All our crystal comes directly from workshops in the Czech Republic. Shipped to you by air from Prague, allowing us to sell premium quality crystal at surprisingly affordable prices.

Central European (Czech) glass can be found in Corinthian excavations from the 11th and 12th centuries. These primitive glass styles spread through Italy, east to Istria and.north to Germany and Holland. At that time, the production of arts and crafts ceased to be the sole preserve of monasteries. Glassworks began to be built in forests, as workers required vast quantities of wood to feed their furnaces. The darkest and most extensive forests were colonized in this hungry quest.

These glassworks produced "forest glass" of a green shade, caused by imperfect refining of raw the materials, potash and quartz sand. Potash was gleaned from the ashes of burned wood and used as a melting material instead of soda. Potash glass is typical of this Central European area. In the 16th century, glass inspired by the Venetian Renaissance was produced for German and Italian markets.

At the end of 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, the major reputation and world recognition of Czech glass was achieved. There was strong development within specialized Czech production, including the decorating of glass by painting, engraving and cutting. Czech glass of these times put to shame the previously favorite Venetian glass.

Czech glassmaking held its dominance through the early 20th century and until the Nazi invasion of 1938, when world markets disappeared in the smoke and ruin of World War Two. Shortly after the end of that war, Czechoslovakia slid silently behind the Iron Curtain, not to be heard from again until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the subsequent separation from Slovakia.