Czech metal - more than just glass.

The Czech Republic is famous for its innovation in glass production - see article here:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovative-czech-glass-guy-j-me-lynn

But Czech Republic is also home to fabulous metal jewelry component manufacture like filigree, casting and findings.

Jablonex, when it was still operating, had a metal filigree division that had its origins dating back over 120 years. When Jablonex went bankrupt in 2010 and was purchased by Preciosa, the filigree division was sold off to new owners who re-opened in 2014. They inherited a 40 foot container of stampings and tools all mixed together with no markings or instructions on how to put together the pieces to be able to create some of the fantastic art Noveau filigree stampings that used to be available but disappeared from the market. It took 4 years, but now those pieces are once again available for purchase as new filigree pieces from the original old stampings. Every month this company re - creates more of the stampings from the mixed up pile they purchased "as is" from Jablonex and puts them on the market.

Most of their filigree is used internally for jewelry production, or sold to European distributors for resale to European jewelry designers, but right now Wild Things Beads is the sole distributor of these filigree pieces in the United States.

Here is some of the filigree we carry:

Another company in Jablonec nad Nisou that creates unusual vintage style Art Noveau jewelry components is a small husband and wife team that makes pewter casting "Secession" filigree pieces using 100 year old molds from the Art Noveau period. They operate out of the basement of their three story house in a Jablonec neighborhood. Again, we are the only US distributor of their product. Here are some of the pieces we carry:

A small cottage industry company we purchase filigree from also operates out of their house in a different Jablonec neighborhood, and they make filigree using a soft soldering technique. Most of their filigree originates from 100 year old stampings, from which they solder on jump rings and rhinestone settings to embellish the stamping and create an original and unusual filigree piece.

Here is an example of what they can produce and what we carry:

Yet another cottage industry in the area which uses metal to create jewelry is the rhinestone brooch and button soldering factories that are sprinkled around in small villages. We know of three such factories, one of which is an antique warehouse run by a Roma family who have a workshop/studio in the back, attached to their house. They take old vintage rhinestone buttons and brooches and repair them, using rhinestones they have in stock, and solder them with metal pewter solder and flux.

Here are some of the buttons we still have in stock:

A large factory in Jablonec who manufactures rhinestone components such as pave balls, rhinestone rhondelles, chain and buttons is AG Plus. They sell all over the world, and are one of the largest factories in Jablonec nad Nisou.

Here are some of the items we carry from them:

Pave balls.

Crystal rhinestone buttons.

‘What they produce is almost endless. We find something new ( to us) every time we go.