Previously decorating was still very important, then almost no undecorated glass was sold. And if only one grape was painted on it - on almost every glass something was drawn.
And now this has all changed; now almost nothing is sold with decoration, but everything must be undecorated.
This fad was made apparent very early in the engraving area and in the cutting area. As for the painting, since this did not affect us until later we got away from producing stuff.
Glass painter, born 1965
After my school days I came into the factory, as a apprentice, and I learned for three years then, that was by Eisch Valentin, the founder of the works. And there they taught me some things that were important and that you do not find now. Techniques such as working with copper wheels. The technique is simply too slow for today's use.
Otherwise, I'm actually only ever been with the Eisch, I am now in my 25th Year, my father was already a cutter there. Because, before, when you became a glassblower, a glass cutter or an engraver this was valued, as a profession. Something that you cannot actually say is so now.
Glass engraver, born 1962
25 years ago they needed glass cutters, they had complete cutting workshops then. From cutting the stem you went on to cutting patterns, spheres, facets and so on. One guy would sketch it out, the next refined it, and then there was another one for polishing - this is a workshop, you were a team. We worked in piece work, since the process had to be agreed.
And now it is that one man has to do all the work steps, which originally made up an entire workshop.
I have myself run a workshop. Four men were in my team. Back then we had super patterns, "Springtime", "Ariane", and each man had his distinct work. For example, I cut in the leaf, one, with a larger stone, put the larger lines in, and then my neighbour cut the details, the veins of the leaf. Those were three different work operations.
And the next step has been that it was polished. Later that was taken over by acid polishing.
Glass cutter, born 1962
I have always been interested in the creative sector, in particular in drawing, and I've known since they paint time consuming things there, that you can create something creative there. And then we actually made very valuable pieces, sometimes up to only two pieces a day.
The painters themselves also made designs. That was a very interesting job, and at the time you cannot yet foresee the future, not until ten years ago, that the times will change so fast.
Glass painter, born 1965
