Today glass is created in many countries around the world, and many countries are developing a reputation for outstanding glass art. But, for many centuries, there were two places that produced great glass art: Murano in Italy and several places in Bohemia, what is now the Czech Republic.
Murano glass
The small Italian island of Murano, in the Venetian Lagoon, was the center of world glass production since the 14th century. Famous for their exquisitely shaped and shaped blown glass, Murano artists developed many new techniques that are used even today, such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (small), gold-thread glass (aventurine), glass multicolored (millefiori), milk (lattimo), to name just a few.
Murano glass was also famous for its colors. The ways of coloring was by using different coloring agents and chemicals. A coloring agent was ground, mixed, and then melted into the glass. Many of these coloring agents are still in use today.
For many centuries, Murano was the center of a lucrative export trade in tableware, chandeliers, and mirrors. The techniques used by Venetian glassmakers were kept in great secrecy, so Murano managed to retain the monopoly on glassmaking for centuries. What made Murano so different in composition from all the others was that the local quartz pebbles were almost pure silica, crushed into very fine sand. Combined with soda ash from the Levant, the Murano makers were able to produce glass of exceptional quality. It helped that they had a monopoly on the import of soda ash.
Bohemian glass
What makes Bohemian glass or Bohemian glass so different from Murano is that it is decorated using frosting, a technique called cold worked glass. This technique was used in Bohemia (today the Czech Republic) and Silesia (today Poland) since the 13th century. Many of the best Bohemian glass brands were originally formed in Venice, which was already the world’s manufacturing center.
Bohemian glass owes its original popularity to the gem-faceting fashion that swept Europe in the 14th century. The glass was cut to imitate real gemstones in response to the demand for affordable yet beautiful jewelry. This generated a large artisanal industry for the manufacture of beads, which even today are the main products from this region. The Bohemian beading technique involved pressing molten glass into a mold, allowing for the production of thousands of identical copies. The glass beads were then coated with gold or bronze metal finishes.
Competition between Murano and Bohemian manufacturers had always been fierce, despite the fact that they produced very different glass art objects, using very different techniques. Murano was always famous for its unique glass making techniques, for blown glass, and for handcrafted objects, even when it came to glass beads.
Bohemian glass was a frosted-decorated cold-worked crystal glass, and the beads were, and still are, machine-made. This division extends to contemporary glass lovers who are also clearly divided between those who prefer one type of glass over another, particularly when it comes to glass beads. Fortunately for both Murano and Czech bead makers, there are enough fans of both types to enable the thriving beading industry and thriving bead-making hobby around the world.