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If you could design a bauble for your own Christmas tree, what would it be – a teddy bear dressed as a ballerina, a hummingbird, or a crimson phoenix?
The staff at Glitterlab, a Christmas decoration company in southern Poland, resolve to turn those fantasies into reality.
His clients include the self-proclaimed “glass magician” swarovskiThe French Chain Galeries Lafayette, and HarrodsPrestigious London Department Store.
“We have the ability to create shapes and designs that glass doesn’t typically take,” the company promises on its website.
And the entire production process, “our closely guarded trade secret”, is manual, which makes each product unique, it says.
Company owner Barbara Mostowska told The Associated Press, “In an era when you can buy just about anything from anywhere, anything made in a European country with honest work and thoughtfulness is really valued by customers.”
‘In our DNA’
Despite its modest footprint, Glitterlab’s workshop has been operating for more than 80 years in Częstochowa, a city of 200,000 in southern Poland.
It was founded by Mostowska’s grandparents after World War II, making her the third generation of the family to manage the business.
“They made glass cigarette holders, then ‘approvets’ – I think that’s the word – little bottles for cake flavourings,” Barbara Mostowska said, recalling fondly how the workshop operated when she was a child.
“And then little baubles, then softly blown baubles that we all know from childhood, some swans, mushrooms, pine cones, things like that,” she recalled.
When the company reached the American market, it began producing more cast ornaments such as angels or Santa Claus.
On its website, the firm also draws inspiration from the history of the city, where a local monastery houses the icon of the Black Madonna, an important object of Catholic devotion since the 14th century. Pilgrims visiting the icon will return home with souvenirs made by local artisans.
“We are their heirs,” claim the owners of GlitterLab. “The techniques we use can’t be learned easily. They require you to walk in dna,
The company’s blend of artistic methods, new technologies and savvy marketing is very appealing. One of her exclusive designs for Harrods, the “Yellow Floral Bauble”, is priced at 125 pounds (about $168).
Mostowska’s dream is that the ornaments won’t just be displayed at Christmas, but “our customers will have them in their homes, whether on hangers or in display cases, all year long.”
The company’s products are “jewelry for the home,” he said.
good work
To create a unique design, GlitterLab workers take the customer’s drawing on paper and first transform it into a soft clay sculpture, which can then be modified until it is an exact representation of the customer’s vision.
Only then do they select the unique combination of materials that turns a particular shape into the bauble.
Mariola Colla, the company’s most experienced designer, has been working at GlitterLab for 42 years. She says the most gratifying moment of her day comes when a client approves the design “without any corrections.”
“It means I have lived up to their expectations, their tastes,” she says. “This is the greatest happiness for me. I couldn’t ask for a greater reward than this.”
Designers work not only with glass but also with materials such as resin, wood, crystal and metal, enabling them to create shapes beyond traditional baubles.
But products also tell a story, often evoking childhood memories.
“Hunger for sweets and play,” says the description of a teddy bear holding a Gulf club, part of a series of similar figures in different postures. “These teddy bears are a time machine to a happier childhood, when nothing tasted as sweet as candy floss licked straight from sticky fingers.”
Amidst the overwhelming reality, a return to childhood and the joy of play may be exactly what Christmas calls for.
“The customers are nice, because how can people be upset and angry or angry when we’re talking about Christmas baubles?” Magdalena Kucharska, the company’s customer service representative, wonders.
“The fact that we make a product that brings joy means that these customers are happy too, and it’s a very enjoyable job.”