History:
The glass and crystal industry has been in existence for centuries in the County of Bitche, Lorraine on the eastern borders of Moselle, France. This area has been supplied by nature with all the necessary elements for the composition of glass and crystal - expansive forests that yielded wood for fuel, white sand and salt marshes.
Saint-Louis glassworks was mentioned as far back as 1586, but the Thirty Years War brought ruin to the area. In 1767, one year after the annexation of Lorraine by France, the glassworks of Saint-Louis were rebuilt and promoted to a Royal Glassworks through a charter granted by Louis XV. Later acknowledging the high quality of its crystal it became a Crystal Works.
In 1819 it became the Company of Saint-Louis Crystal Works. As early as 1855 coal began to replace wood as a fuel. Eight years later the first Siemens type recuperation ovens were set up. Saint-Louis continued its success being awarded with many honours.
Today the Saint-Louis Crystal Works has a pot oven allowing for the production of 12 simultaneous colours, as well as a pool oven meant for pure crystal.
Saint-Louis continues to be as vigilant of its creations and expertise as it has been for the past four centuries.
Product:
Crystal is made up of extra fine white sand to which is added a high percentage of lead. It is the latter that lends crystal its high qualities of resonance and refraction of light.
Genuine crystal must furthermore satisfy certain norms and definite qualities. It must, in particular, contain more than 24% lead to deserve the name. The present Saint-Louis crystal fluctuates between 25-30% depending on the products to be manufactured.
The addition of various metallic salts makes it possible to obtain a complete series of shimmering colours, and it is worthy of notice that gold enters into the composition of some of them (e.g. red, amethyst).
Melted at a high temperature in heat resistant melting pots, crystal is worked at the tip of the glassmaker’s cane within the temperature range in which it solidifies - from 100-600°C.
Through the years Saint-Louis has developed styles for each period in history. Saint-Louis produces traditional prestigious suites such as the Thistle, and the Trianon, which is over 150 years old. Saint-Louis has also created more modern suites with pure lines. Apart from these table sets, Saint-Louis devotes part of its production to making novelty items - port and liqueur sets, vases, bowls, lamps and chandeliers.
The President of France presented Mr Tony Blair (then Prime Minister of Great Britain) a Saint-Louis Whisky decanter and glasses on the occasion of his Fiftieth Birthday.
