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bohemian glass
Bohemian glass is a decorative glass made in Bohemia starting in the 13th century.
Bohemia was a part of the former Czechoslovakia, now known as the Czech Republic, and was famous for its beautiful and colourful glass.
The history of Bohemian glass started with the abundant natural resources found in the countryside.
Bohemia turned out expert craftsmen who expertly worked with crystal.
Bohemian crystal became famous for its excellent cut and engraving.
They became skilled teachers of glassmaking in neighboring and distant countries.
By the middle of the 19th century, a technical glass making school system was created
that encouraged traditional and innovative techniques as well as technical preparation.
In the second half of the 19th century, Bohemia looked to the export trade and mass-produced coloured glass for shipment all over the world.
Glass artisanship remained at a high level even under the Communists because it was considered ideologically innocuous.
In the modern 21st century, this school system is considered to be the finest throughout the world.
No other glass and crystal producer anywhere can match as many techniques and technology under the labels Bohemia Glass and Bohemia Crystal.


murano glass
Murano’s reputation as a centre for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic,
fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291.
Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens.
By the 14th century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state
and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families.
Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries.
Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques.


freshwater pearls
Freshwater pearls are currently back in a big way.
Pearls have always flattered women with the soft diffused light scattered from the iridescent surface illuminating the face.
They are a fashion perennial, reinvented in century after century, hanging from an ear or swathed around the neck.
Originally the pearl was beyond the reach of ordinary people but now new pearl farming techniques make them accessible for everyday wear.
Cultivated freshwater pearls were pioneered by Mr Mikimoto a century ago. He experimented with the mussels and clams in Lake Biwa in Japan.
Due to increasing industrialisation in Japan eventually the lake became unproductive.
The industry then moved to Mainland China which later produced a flowering creative explosion
of beautiful pearls of all shapes and sizes, natural shades as well as enhanced colours.
The huge increase in production meant that these luscious pearls were then within the reach of everyone.
The criteria for valuing pearls are size, shape, colour, skin and lustre.
The freshwater pearls are formed by the non nucleated cultivation process by which a small piece of mantle is inserted into the mollusc.
Microscopic layers of nacre build up gradually around the foreign body causing the characteristic soft iridescent sheen on the surface of the pearl.
The molluscs now used often have a pink interior of the shell and results in pearls in naturally occurring shades of pinks.