The Rise of the Glass Industry

How Early Forms of Glass Were Turned Into Popular, Decorative Art

May 24, 2009

Early Middle Eastern glassmakers created the most basic glass items, but as artisans developed new techniques, more glass products were made and spread through Europe.

It is quite remarkable that the basic way in which glass is made has not changed for centuries. It was with simple additions to recipes and improvements in production that crudely fashioned, practical glass items became a global industry.

Author William S. Ellis describes the early origins of glass up to our modern glass industry in his 1998 book Glass: From the First Mirror to Fiber Optics, the Story of the Substance That Changed the World. Ellis writes that glass was made for at least a thousand years before the blowpipe was first used in the first or second century B.C., which was the first important new development. It enabled easy creation of new shapes and forms.

Blowpipe Changes Glassmaking in the Roman Empire

It was during the time of the Roman Empire after Christ that glassmaking was refined. Early craftsmen discovered that adding a bit of antimony and manganese would create clear glass, removing the greenish hue that results from iron in the sand. During this period, glass was produced in Syria, Spain, North Africa and Britain.

Ellis writes that “massive quantities…were produced…in Lebanon, in sophisticated Alexandria, in Damascus and Aleppo, and on the plains of Babylonia.” Additionally, the Chinese used glass to resemble jade and replace gemstones, although the glass pieces were just as highly valued.

Islamic and Venetian Influences on Decorative Glass

Craftsmen in early times didn’t know how to fashion drinking vessels with flat bottoms or produce flat panes of glass. But by the rise of Islam, after 600 A.D., glass was being designed in new ways. Metals applied to it created new colors and features. The Muslims made an enormous amount of glass, and it was enameled, engraved, and more delicate than earlier pieces.

The burgeoning Venetian glass industry brought new craftsmanship to glass products, and a wide selection of Venetian glass designs and styles were produced by 1600. Italian glass factories had been moved from Venice to Murano near the end of the 13th century because the many shop furnaces in Venice created a fire hazard. The isolation of workers on the island where Murano is located helped keep glassmaking secrets safe.

The unique feature of Murano glass was that it was like crystal, but more delicate, not heavy like the lead crystal that would become popular in the future. It was called cristallo, made with ash containing potassium oxide and magnesium.

Artisans Spread Knowledge of Glassmaking Through Europe

In 1612, the Florentine glassmaker Antonio Neri published L’Arte Vetraria, the first book written about how to blow glass. By this time, the practice of keeping the secrets of glass blowing in Murano—often under threat of death—were relaxing. This allowed more artisans to spread their knowledge, learn the craft, and develop new techniques.

Eventually the skill of glassmaking spread through Europe and new developments came. The Englishman George Ravenscroft discovered around 1675 that adding lead oxide to Venetian glass produced the heavier form known as lead crystal. That led to the famous Waterford Crystal still known today. Bohemia (which later became Czechoslovakia) became known for developing colorful works of stained glass through the Renaissance period.

When settlers arrived in the New World, they had a need for glassmaking shops to provide basic items like window panes, household wares and other items needed in growing cities. The glass created after the American Revolution would propel the business into the future, making America a new center in the industry and a leader in future glassmaking technologies. Read more about that in the article “The Glass Industry in America: How New Glass Products Changed Life in America and the World.”

Glass producers today still make glass products using the same basic formula as early peoples did, with the main difference being production by machine rather than by hand. But the many decorative and artistic glass products blown by hand in family businesses and art studios around the world today still use the ancient, timeless techniques.

The copyright of the article The Rise of the Glass Industry in International Trade Commodities is owned by Cheryl Kraynak. Permission to republish The Rise of the Glass Industry in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.