We spent 2 nights in Waterford, spending a little time in the city but mostly using it as a base to explore the surrounding countryside.
One of the optional stops in Waterford was a visit to the Waterford Crystal factory. Even though we were not big into the product, it is a world-renowned brand that has a long reputation for exquisite products and Kathy & I were looking forward to visiting. One of the women on our tour – a self-professed crystal expert – poo-poohed Waterford as now being “owned by a Chinese company and all of the crystal is made overseas.” That’s a bit far from the truth, as the company is owned by the Finnish company Fiskars, and much of the production is in fact done in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. Most of the custom pieces and a very few of the series pieces are done in Ireland.
We decided ahead of time that we wanted to own a small souvenir of our visit – small being a relative term when it comes to anything Waterford – and that we wanted to be sure to get something that was actually made in Ireland. We purchased and had shipped home two whiskey tumblers. And while they cost far less than some of the beautiful pieces we saw, they were pricey enough that we’ve been too nervous to get them out of the box! But they will come out eventually, and we may even have a wee spot of Irish whiskey in them!
Tours of the factory are offered throughout the day, and we managed to squeeze into one of the few available during our time in town. The tour took us through the entire operation, from blowing and forming the original glass, to the initial polishing and quality control, to the layout and design and finally to the cutting room itself. There, master glasscutters cut each piece manually, using lots of patience and a steady hand!
We even got to see a few conceptual pieces, including some of the panels used on the New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square, an eagle being crafted for America’s 250 birthday celebration, numerous sporting trophies and more. It was a very special and memorable visit!
Jeff Curto
Somehow, I imagined it being in a quaint little tudor-style house, which of course is silly. But such is the legacy of the stuff. Nice set of images!
Tom Dills
I suppose many years ago (“fado, fado” in Irish) that may have been the case, but it takes a lot of gear to make all that stuff! We visited a smaller glassmaker in Dingle that is in a space about the size of a decent-sized machine shop. But they didn’t actually blow the glass there.