Birgit and Klaus
Muller-Blech
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Glass was Their Destiny - Glass is Their life
A Link Between Christmas Past and Christmas Future
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Crest of the glassblower
family Muller, circa 1596 |
In the late 1500s in Lauscha, Germany, the Muller family of glassblowers,
worked diligently to produce mouth blown glassware of
the highest quality for their countrymen and later for others all over
the world to enjoy. Beginning in the 1860s, the Muller family specifically
customized their
craft for creating Christmas ornaments. As generations followed,
each would take great care to
share their expertise with the next generation.
In the glassblowing cottage industry, every family had their
own specialty. One family may have perfect ornaments of churches,
while another created pinecones. The Muller family was renown for
their bird ornaments. These small creatures not only provided much
companionship for the glassblowers during Germany's long gray winters,
but they also became a source of inspiration. inge-glas, as it is
known today, has more styles of birds than any other company and remains
highly regarded for their artistry in the creation of bird ornaments.
The glass blown ornaments were crafted in the same workshops
in Lauscha, Germany until
1953. At this time, the Russian occupation of Lauscha led 13th
generation descendent Heinz
Muller-Blech to flee to Neustadt and there reestablish what is now
the modern day inge-glas
workshops. Along his journey Heinz managed to smuggle several
glass blowing moulds and
crossed the border to seek out a new life in unoccupied West Germany.
After settling down in
Lauscha, Heinz Muller-Blech began to actively search for antique ornament
moulds. His family in East Germany world send packages to him containing
only halves of the moulds so that the
authorities would not think them to be valuable and confiscate them.
The Muller-Blech family workshops employs over 100 artisans yet, the company
still has the characteristics of a small family business. It is their
wish to share with you the joy and excitement of authentic, traditional
mouth blown German Christmas ornaments.
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