History of the Moser glassworks and Moser crystal

History of the Moser glassworks is historically associated with the name of Ludwig Moser (1833 - 1916), one of the most outstanding personalities of glass manufacturing in the world. He first opened his own shop and engraver´s workshop in the centre of Karlovy Vary and in the same town in 1893 he starts production in his own glass workshop, which has been operating successfully until today. Within a short time he gained the reputation as the most prestigious producer of crystal in the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. The titles of the court suppliers of emperor Franz Joseph I (1873), Persian shah Musaffereddine (1901) and king Edward VII of England (1908) further increased the reputation of the crystal and the interest of other politicians and emperors. Then, in the year 1922, Moser glass manufactory became the biggest producer of luxurious drinking and decorative glass in Czechoslovakia. The success of Ludwig Moser, whose heritage has been developed since then, consists in the production of ecologically friendly lead-free crystal, of a unique colour spectrum, specially designed by the most prestigious designers and in excellent hand manufacturing. To develope this tradition, Moser glass manufactory co-operates with the most talented designers, glassmakers, cutters and engravers, whose craftsmanship helps create masterpieces in their branch. From its very beginning, its products are being presented in the most important world exhibitions, in which they have been awarded with important awards. Special pieces of art require a selected international sales network. The first specialized shop Moser was opened in the centre of Prague in 1925. Since that time, the inland sales have spread to three more brand shops and by exclusive representatives worldwide. Nowadays, the glass manufactory is a joint stock company with entirely Czech capital and approximately 320 employees.

Hand Production of Moser crystal

Each Moser product requires hours of hand made work by glass masters. Secrets of hand skill are handed down from old glass-makers generation to the younger ones. To become a glass-master take years of hard work. Apart from talent, glass-masters need to have enough physical power to manage holding in their hands vases or bowls weighted up to dozens of kilograms. No matter what they do – working by a furnace with molten glass at the temperature of 1200° C inside, gouging out wooden moulds by hand, cutting, painting, gilding or polishing gold all by hand or taking several months of patient work on art engravings, this art craft was and still has been our glass-makers’ mission.

Interesting facts about the manufacturing of Moser crystal products

  • the range of temperatures for shaping of the Moser lead free glass moves from 1180 °C to 1320 °C
  • in the morning, tiny products with thin edges are produced of the sparse and warmest molten glass
  • the largest products, such as 30 cm high vases are made at the end of the working day
  • the Moser manufactory produces its wooden forms itself, namely of hard crude beech or pear-tree timber
  • the forms for the rotation-shaped products are turned, the other shapes are gouged
  • Moser uses the stoves with an upper-flame, that are heated with natural gas
  • the process of melting of the glass for the next working day begins after the end of the working day of the glassmasters, at 3 p.m., the whole melting process is finished at 5 a.m.
  • after shaping the product, the ovenware goes on the annealing oven to banish the internal tension
  • the mightier the product, the longer it lasts to cool it
  • while a cup can be cooled in one or two hours, some mighty-edged vases or blocks have to be cooled for up to several days