Legendary Czech brand seriesSource: Diary
Read which products from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia make a good name not only for their region, but often also make the Czech Republic famous abroad. Here are the individual parts of the series Legendary Czech brands.
Alena Türková puts smaller metal components into a mold squeezed out of a clay cake, where glass stones are already glued. He then ignites the needle-shaped solder and carefully welds the joints. He has been doing this job for over thirty years. The massive brooches created under her hand travel to Germany.
Martina Müllerová is also preparing the same order at the next table. Brooches are even more massive. “The Germans want everything big,” she smiled. From the Jabloneck company Fabos is heading to Jabloneck imitation jewelry to the whole world.
Since last year, the handmade production of glass and costume jewelry has been on the representative list of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage:
The Czech Republic has another entry on the UNESCO list. It succeeded with the nomination of handmade glass production
One of the former premises of the former jewelery colossus Jablonex stands almost in the center Jablonce nad Nisou. When Ondřej Bělský’s father came here years ago, the area was overgrown, the building was slowly decaying. “Except for the windows that were replaced by the company, my friends and I repaired almost everything here,” described Bělský the younger. Today, he leads what is probably the largest company in the city, which manages the legacy of the fame of Jabloneck jewelry. “We have sixty employees. Considering the volume of production, today we really are the largest company in the jewelry industry in Jablonec,” described Bělský.
Ondřej Bělský, manager of Fabos s.r.oSource: Diary/Jan Sedlák
It’s not just any link. The company Fabos succeeds in promoting costume jewelry even to the upper floors fashion industry. After all, the current first lady of the Czech Republic wore a poppy brooch Eva Pavlova, a large order went from Jablonec to the hands of the well-known fashion designer Osman Laffita. Other famous designers include costume jewelry from Jablonec in their collections. People in Germany, Japan or Macedonia wear pieces of Jablonec jewelry of the modern age.
Tourists buy souvenirs in the form of chains with pendants of jeweled hazelnuts at the German castle Moritzburk, where the famous fairy tale was filmed Three nuts for Cinderella. Here, visitors buy apple jewelry as a souvenir. Hazelnuts are produced in Fabos. And the greatest masterpiece? A small dog decorated with thousands of rhinestones, the price of which climbs to fifty thousand crowns.
The Museum of Glass and Jewelery in Jablonec received an extension in the form of a glass crystal:
A unique addition to the Museum of Glass and Jewelery in the form of crystal has been built in Jablonec
The piece of jewelry, often decorated with hundreds and thousands of glass stones, is created “from the peak”. In the beginning there is metal that is melted and poured into molds where it takes shape. Swords, reliefs, lizards or birds of many kinds. From copper, brass and tin alloys, silver. Glass pebbles are then placed into them by careful hands. The metal components are then welded. It’s not just that, this craft, called herding, has a history dating back to the Middle Ages, but it requires considerable attention and patience.
Glass stones are produced marginally here, the main part of the production is covered by products from Preciosa or Swarovski. But they can make metal castings of many different shapes themselves. “We take pieces of metal in the form of sheets or bricks from the Kovohuti in Příbram. We then melt them and pour them into a mold or shape them with a press,” Bělský described. After all, some of the Jablonec company’s products are also purchased by Swarovski.
Jablonec jewelry is heading to the world
Many products go for painting. Lucie Aubrechtová, otherwise the production manager, can also paint metal moldings and castings. “The colors dry for twenty-four hours, the temperature is important for their hardening. If it gets below twenty degrees, it won’t dry and it will stick.”
Finished products, i.e. brooches, earrings, pendants, chains, as well as sports trophies, are sent from Jablonec to all parts of the world. Fabos operates five separate stores in the Czech Republic alone. In Jablonec itself, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice, České Budějovice. “The Czech Republic is a good market, but we export half of our products. To Germany, France, Macedonia, Ukraine. In the last two years, the trade with Japan“, Bělský explained.
Its owner Štěpánka Kurfiřtová explained the history and present of the Stefany jewelry company to Denik:
Our jewelry adorns even a princess, says the owner of a family business in Železnobrodsk
The company Fabos actively participates in events related to costume jewelry. “She visited last year the first lady of the Czech Republic the apple sales exhibition Fragile beauty. She liked the poppies at our stand. So we gave it to her. We were happy when we saw that she was really wearing our jewelry.”
The famous and once very profitable apple jewelery has been crushed by cheap Asian competition in recent decades. “It’s a problem, the goods are sold much worse than, say, twenty years ago. But I believe that honest Jablonec handicraft still has a lot to offer, here the production of costume jewelry is unique. Not only with its craftsmanship, but also with its innovative design. Whoever can combine these two industries will survive,” added Ondřej Bělský.
Metal jewelry (craftsmanship) has a long tradition in Jablonec nad Nisou. In the second half of the 19th century, Jablonec represents the metropolis of costume jewelry production. Many independent companies and export houses were located here. Metal costume jewelry is an imitation of jewelry made of precious metals. A joiner creates jewelry by joining different types of moldings and parts using solder and a soldering gun.
Tags: Skillful Czech hands Jabloneck jewelery worn lady Cinderella
