The origins of glass

It is thought that the art of glass making came from Asia minor, but the oldest objects discovered were made in Egypt and Mesopotamia almost 4500 years ago.

Invention of blown glass

The first major step forward in the manufacture of glass was the appearance of the glass-blowing pipe during the first century AD.

This method was used throughout the Roman empire and reached the French valleys of the Rhône, Saône and Doubs.

Venetian glass making

During the 13th century, Venetian glass makers settled on the Isle of Murano. They became known for producing glass that was distinctly more transparent, purer with remarkable quality and lightness: cystallin.

Venetian know-how spread across Europe. "Venetian style" glass was created.

The birth of crystal

At the end of the 15th century from the German region of Bohemia came a new thicker and harder glass based on Venetian glass: Bohemian crystal. Window glass was also produced in the region.

In the 17th century in England, glassmakers began using coal rather than wood to heat the furnaces. Modifications aimed at keeping the same quality of glass led to the development of a heavier, very pure glass with a silica and lead oxide base (24 to 30%), with a previously unachieved sparkle: crystal.

And in France?

During the 17th and 18th centuries, France produced very beautiful utility objects made of glass, such as glass services. At the same time opaline was discovered.

At the end of the 19th century a new style appeared - Art Nouveau - with Emile Gallé of the Nancy School at its head. He used an opaque glass with an additional layer, or two layers, of coloured glass and decorated with what he saw in nature (flowers, dragonflies...): engraved multi-layered glass was introduced.

This exuberant style was followed by Art Deco at the start of the 20th century: geometrical and stylised shapes replaced the natural and plant shapes of Art Nouveau.

Today

In the space of a few years, many workshops have opened as well as schools of artistic glass making. In response to this very old tradition of artistic glass making, fully mechanised manufacturing has developed to produce:
- bottles, vases and flasks by blowing,
- drinking glasses and tumblers by blowing or pressing (including at La Rochère),
- panes and mirrors by casting on a bath of tin,
- insulating bricks, paving and transparent tiles such as those produced at La Rochère.

International designers are also increasingly interested in glass as a material that integrates perfectly into new architecture.