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Waterford Crystal
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Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal is an Irish manufacturer of crystal glassware, especially cut glass products. It is named after the city of Waterford in Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood plc, and in June 2010, Waterford Crystal relocated almost back to the roots of glass-making in the city centre. The Mall location holds both a manufacturing facility that melts over 750 tonnes of crystal a year – although most Waterford Crystal is now produced outside Ireland – and a visitor centre with the world's largest collection of Waterford Crystal. Since 2015, the brand has been owned by Fiskars Corporation.
The origins of crystal production in Waterford date back to 1783, when George Penrose and his nephew William Penrose started their business, the Waterford Glassworks. It produced extremely fine flint glass that became world-renowned. That firm closed in June 1851, with the loss of 53 to 100 jobs.
The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, led by Sir Horace Plunkett, had sponsored John St John Lyburn's experiments at replicating the Waterford Glassworks style of glass at a small glassworks built at the Greater Cork International Exhibition of 1903. Lyburn was later sent to discuss a 1912 proposal by the principal of Waterford's Central Technical Institute to provide instruction in glassmaking, which was followed by a 1913 proposal for commercial production within the school. The expert input[who?] was that it was not yet time for Waterford people to resume glassmaking, but there was discussion with an American investor seeking a glass factory location in Ireland. The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Richard Sheehan, was opposed to foreign investment due to the risk of "foreign influences", and the investor was not persuaded to set up in Waterford.
In 1933, a Belgian company explored opening a finishing plant in Waterford, and this was discussed with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Seán Lemass, who was keen to secure a glass factory for Waterford. The Belgian project did not proceed but in 1935 a Dublin jeweller, Bernard J. Fitzpatrick, approached a senior official in the Department of Industry and Commerce about an Irish glass-making concept, and in 1937 a local group proposed a project to involve the German company of Otto Maetz of Düsseldorf. This latter was studied by Lemass, still Minister for Industry and Commerce, and the Irish representative in Berlin, Charles Bewley, but was not realised. Meantime, in 1938 Fitzpatrick approached a Czech friend and supplier, Charles Bacik, who had four glass factories, about setting up in Waterford. Bacik expressed interest but could not move to Ireland due to have commitments to a young family, and further discussions were delayed by World War II.
Bernard Fitzpatrick visited Charles Bacik shortly after World War II ended, in January 1946, and secured special permits to visit again in May. Bacik accepted Fitzpatrick's proposal to restart glassmaking in Waterford, and they agreed on the organisation of the factory, with Bacik to secure key staff, and Fitzpatrick a site and permissions. Fitzpatrick agreed a location at Ballytruckle, by Waterford's greyhound track and a soccer ground, with the City Manager and shared the plans with the Department of Industry and Commerce. On arrival, he also accommodated the Baciks, with beds provided by Denis Guiney of Clerys department store. Bacik visited Waterford in August 1946, and he sought permission for the factory in October.[citation needed]
After also exploring Carlow as a possible location, Bacik formally applied for a lease on the Ballytruckle lands in January 1947, and it was granted for 75 years. Finance was secured from various sources, including a government loan, and construction began on 3 April 1947. Skilled crystal workers were not available in Ireland, so continental Europeans were engaged, starting in June 1947 with Bacik's fellow countryman and former intern, the designer Miroslav Havel. A glass-cutting machine began operation for apprentice work in August 1947, but progress was limited by an explosion, and initial production was only of "soda glass". First glass blowing was on 11 September 1947, and first official cutting on 21 September.
By the early 1950s, it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company, owned by Joseph McGrath, Richard Duggan and Spencer Freeman of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake, heavy investors in Irish business at that time.
In 1970, John Aynsley and Sons was taken over by Waterford and renamed Aynsley China Ltd.[citation needed] At peak operations, Waterford employed 3,000 staff in a city of 46,000. In 1971, the company provided playing facilities for a newly formed association football club at Waterford Crystal Sports Complex in Ballinaneesagh. The club, initially named Waterford Glass F.C., later changed their name to Waterford Crystal F.C. following re-branding of the company.
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Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal is an Irish manufacturer of crystal glassware, especially cut glass products. It is named after the city of Waterford in Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood plc, and in June 2010, Waterford Crystal relocated almost back to the roots of glass-making in the city centre. The Mall location holds both a manufacturing facility that melts over 750 tonnes of crystal a year – although most Waterford Crystal is now produced outside Ireland – and a visitor centre with the world's largest collection of Waterford Crystal. Since 2015, the brand has been owned by Fiskars Corporation.
The origins of crystal production in Waterford date back to 1783, when George Penrose and his nephew William Penrose started their business, the Waterford Glassworks. It produced extremely fine flint glass that became world-renowned. That firm closed in June 1851, with the loss of 53 to 100 jobs.
The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, led by Sir Horace Plunkett, had sponsored John St John Lyburn's experiments at replicating the Waterford Glassworks style of glass at a small glassworks built at the Greater Cork International Exhibition of 1903. Lyburn was later sent to discuss a 1912 proposal by the principal of Waterford's Central Technical Institute to provide instruction in glassmaking, which was followed by a 1913 proposal for commercial production within the school. The expert input[who?] was that it was not yet time for Waterford people to resume glassmaking, but there was discussion with an American investor seeking a glass factory location in Ireland. The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Richard Sheehan, was opposed to foreign investment due to the risk of "foreign influences", and the investor was not persuaded to set up in Waterford.
In 1933, a Belgian company explored opening a finishing plant in Waterford, and this was discussed with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Seán Lemass, who was keen to secure a glass factory for Waterford. The Belgian project did not proceed but in 1935 a Dublin jeweller, Bernard J. Fitzpatrick, approached a senior official in the Department of Industry and Commerce about an Irish glass-making concept, and in 1937 a local group proposed a project to involve the German company of Otto Maetz of Düsseldorf. This latter was studied by Lemass, still Minister for Industry and Commerce, and the Irish representative in Berlin, Charles Bewley, but was not realised. Meantime, in 1938 Fitzpatrick approached a Czech friend and supplier, Charles Bacik, who had four glass factories, about setting up in Waterford. Bacik expressed interest but could not move to Ireland due to have commitments to a young family, and further discussions were delayed by World War II.
Bernard Fitzpatrick visited Charles Bacik shortly after World War II ended, in January 1946, and secured special permits to visit again in May. Bacik accepted Fitzpatrick's proposal to restart glassmaking in Waterford, and they agreed on the organisation of the factory, with Bacik to secure key staff, and Fitzpatrick a site and permissions. Fitzpatrick agreed a location at Ballytruckle, by Waterford's greyhound track and a soccer ground, with the City Manager and shared the plans with the Department of Industry and Commerce. On arrival, he also accommodated the Baciks, with beds provided by Denis Guiney of Clerys department store. Bacik visited Waterford in August 1946, and he sought permission for the factory in October.[citation needed]
After also exploring Carlow as a possible location, Bacik formally applied for a lease on the Ballytruckle lands in January 1947, and it was granted for 75 years. Finance was secured from various sources, including a government loan, and construction began on 3 April 1947. Skilled crystal workers were not available in Ireland, so continental Europeans were engaged, starting in June 1947 with Bacik's fellow countryman and former intern, the designer Miroslav Havel. A glass-cutting machine began operation for apprentice work in August 1947, but progress was limited by an explosion, and initial production was only of "soda glass". First glass blowing was on 11 September 1947, and first official cutting on 21 September.
By the early 1950s, it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company, owned by Joseph McGrath, Richard Duggan and Spencer Freeman of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake, heavy investors in Irish business at that time.
In 1970, John Aynsley and Sons was taken over by Waterford and renamed Aynsley China Ltd.[citation needed] At peak operations, Waterford employed 3,000 staff in a city of 46,000. In 1971, the company provided playing facilities for a newly formed association football club at Waterford Crystal Sports Complex in Ballinaneesagh. The club, initially named Waterford Glass F.C., later changed their name to Waterford Crystal F.C. following re-branding of the company.
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