Daniel Swarovski and Austrian Crystal - Part 1

Introduction

The beads most Americans known as Austrian cut crystals are among the most expensive and beautiful mass-produced bead on the market. The perfection of their material and workmanship create exceptionally attractive ornaments. Their production is closely associated with that of artificial stones for jewelry, commonly known as rhinestones. The story of these Austrian cut crystal beads is intertwined with the history of European beads in general. It begins centuries ago with European glassmakers attempting to duplicate the brilliance of diamonds or rock crystal in glass, and climaxes with the success of a family-run business that is one of the largest private enterprises in Austria and the largest single bead company in the world.

Background

The leading Venetian glassmaker of his day, Angelo Barovier (1405-1460) developed the clearest glass of its time, called cristallo. It was de-colorized with manganese and required purified alkalis and special care to make. Still, it was slightly grayish and bubbled, and could only be considered of good quality in comparison to what else was available. It was mostly used on blown vessels, which helped make it as clear as possible. In 1683 Michael Muller at St. Anton in south Bohemia introduced chalk glass which came to know as Bohemian crystal. This was widely used by his countrymen, bit its brilliance was difficult to maintain.

Another user of lead glass was the company of garnet cutters in Turnov, Bohemia. Disturbed by the success of Venetian imitations, they sent the Fiser brothers to Venice to learn the secrets of making imitation stones. By 1715 they had developed a formula for composition, a lead-rich glass. They colored it red with gold to make a successful garnet simulation (the garnets of Bohemia are the red pyrope type). At first these imitation garnets were crudely pressed then cut into artificial stones; work done secretly by the garnet cutters. In time, it grew into the thriving Czech glass bead industry.

The Czech bead industry, while centered at Jabonec nad Nisou, was scattered into the countryside throughout the Jizera or Iser Mountains in Bohemia and neighboring Silesia. Much of the work was done in small factories and private homes, each specializing in certain types of beads. To one such bead-making family, Daniel Swarovski was born in 1862 in Georgenthal, near Jablonec nad Nisou. His father was a glass cutter, and it was in this profession that Daniel was trained.