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Contemporary Irish Crystal

Tradition of crystal manufacturing in Ireland enjoyed a short lived success in 1800's and collapsed hit by punitive laws imposed by the English parliament curtailing the export of Irish made products and later by the Great Famine of the 1840′s.

It was the second half of the 20th century that witnessed significant brands in this industry emerging.

Crystal in Waterford
In 1947 Waterford Crystal was founded. Within 4 years of starting work in Waterford the factory was exporting glass to the USA and other countries, building its market and its reputation to the point where it became the largest crystal manufacturer in the world. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Waterford glass became a must have item on wedding lists and was a byword for quality and elegance. It was also hugely popular in Ireland.

In their heyday, the factories at Kilbarry, Butlerstown and Dungarvan had 4,500 people on the payroll. This means that at least 1 Irish person in every thousand was employed in the crystal industry. And yet this was not the only crystal manufacturer in the country.

The Industry Expands
By the 1980′s more than a dozen glass factories, producing cut crystal of a similar style, had been established, such as the revived Tyrone Crystal factory and others in Tipperary, Dublin, Cavan and Galway. To this day every larger town boasts a crystal shop or studio with products of their own design and engravers offering customisation on personal or corporate orders. ;

Cavan Crystal is the second oldest crystal factory in Ireland and was founded in 1969 by six business men from the Cavan town area, with an inhouse designer working with Cavan Crystal since 1974. Seamus Comac has designed and engraved Hall of Fame Awards in California, which were presented to Clint Eastwood, Bette Midler and Betty White, among others.

Tipperary Crystal
It was Tipperary Crystal that pioneered a tradition of successful collaborations with well known Irish designers, and later also with celebrities. The company was launched by master craftsmen Joe Foley and John Meagher in 1988. In 1991 they commissioned Sybil Connolly to design crystal stemware. This renowned Irish designer, famous for dressing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, worked on projects for luxury goods makers such as Tiffany & Co of New York, Brunschwig & Fils and Schumacher since 1980s.

Resulting in an exclusive range of crystal, Connolly's inspiration came from the wooden trellis work on the exterior of the ‘Swiss Cottage’ in Cahir, Co. Tipperary, which was built for the earl of Glengall in the early 19th century.

Collaboarations with designers
Tipperary was closely followed by Waterford Crystal in pursuing designers of their products. Waterford's strong in-house lighting design department was famous for splendid chandeliers in Westminster Abbey, in the White House and in the Australian Parliament. Waterford's reputation also won them a commission to complete the New York Times Square Millenium Ball.

In-house designers now recruited not only from progressing talented glass cutters, but - like Billy Canning - Waterford chief lighting designer of many years, were graduates of premier Irish industrial design school - National College of Art and Design in Dublin.

In 1997 John Rocha, Ireland's most prestigious International fashion designer launched his debut collections with Waterford Crystal with 'made to be used' and Black Cut - an iconic range of sleek black cased crystal defined by the clear classic diamond cuts. The simple shapes and minimal patterns never before applied to crystal formed the aesthetic for designs that have now become modern classics and have achieved worldwide acclaim as two years later 'John Rocha at Waterford Lighting' collection won the 'UK Decorative Lighting Awards'. One of the designs also notably featured in the set of the 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' movie.

Working with John Rocha on the lighting range at the time was a young Waterford Crystal in-house designer, Marcus Notley, who later worked independently with Ireland's other leading crystal companies. Starting in 1999, Notley's ongoing, 8 year long collaboration with Tipperary Crystal and one of Ireland's foremost fashion designers, Louise Kennedy, resulted in about 100 various crystal pieces of stemware and giftware being created. Since then the collection had become the fastest growing brand of designer crystal in the Irish marketplace, selling successfully in the UK and US markets.

In April 2005 Louise Kennedy launched her spectacular chandelier and lighting collection to international acclaim and in 2006 Marcus Notley had completed the design of Ireland's largest crystal chandelier for the Merchant Hotel in Belfast.

Also in 1999 Jasper Conran was approached by the Waterford Wedgwood group to design a collection using lead crystal. The Jasper Conran at Waterford collection features a range of contemporary cuts displayed on beautifully proportioned drinking and gift ranges.

Challenges / Abroad Manufacturing Controversy
While still designed in Ireland, huge percentage of Irish crystal is now manufactured in Slovenia, Poland, Italy and other areas of Europe and Asia as a cost cutting measure despite former local employees' protests and efforts at returning employment in crystal industry to Ireland.

Nevertheless, Irish crystal companies, renowned for their stemware, tableware and chandeliers together with their competitors, many of them boasting craftsmanship rooted in the place of origin, have been facing the same challenge in the marketplace of late, that is - to be finding relevance to consumers' lives in the today's modern world.

The leading light in crystal industry globally - Swarovski - allowed its crystal components to filter into many product lines such as cosmetics, jewellery and fashion worldwide, irrespective of where they are manufactured. Responding to the growing needs of the middle classes emerging in the developing world could be another opportunity for Irish crystal