I want to develop a new product, so how do we start?

Share your ideas with us, give us your sketches, we will have a look and give you some advice as to what techniques should be used and what designs are realistically viable both financially and technologically.

When you intend to combine glass and metal for chandeliers, table lamps and the like, always make the glass first. Metals should only be made to fit the glass. It never works the other way round, trust us, we have been there.

For handmade production, forget about millimetres. Glass is blown into timber moulds which burn out and therefore millimetres are easy to miss; unless you are willing to invest into a metal mould, but we can discuss this later.

Are you the right place to go to?

If you need chandelier components, cast or blown tiles, bricks, general glassware and you need a lot of colours or patterns on glass then yes, we are the right place to go to.

And yes, one more thing, we are probably not the best place to go to if you broke one of your glasses from the 70s and are looking for replacement. We won't bother to make one glass, sorry (and not even two).

How much is it all going to cost me?

We always make sure that the R&D process goes as smooth as possible and all questions and doubts are answered and resolved on paper before we move to the sampling process – sample production.

How does the sampling work?

You will be charged 7 000 CZK (or 280 EUR) per hour of work of a full group of glassmakers. These guys will be putting into practice what has been previously discussed and carefully tuned up. The sampling process is basically doing R&D and as it happens, not always goes well. Please be prepared that sometimes you simply don't get good results. That is why the process is called test sampling.

What if I am patient enough?

And with glass you should be. Once we have tuned up the production process, you will be getting the first prototypes of the glass pieces you can play with and use for the final product, whatever it is.

So are we there?

Not yet. The last stage is the tricky one. This is the moment when we take the sampled production to the next level – to a relatively large scale production. At times, this step just does not work and we need to go back and reengineer.

That is going to cost a fortune, isn't it?

Developing new products from glass is not cheap. However, once we have cracked it, you have the edge as your competitors trying to copy need to go through the same process and offer your product cheaper which is generally very difficult and not worth it.

But still, you are Czech Republic, so your production costs more than it used to…

It is certainly true that it's cheaper to produce in China or India. On the other hand, especially if you intend to sell you product in Europe, the proximity of the manufacturer is key for new product development, communication, manufacturing planning and logistics. We might not be the cheapest, but are very responsive, consistent in our production and speak English (at the end of the day, we have just walked your through the entire process).

So, how do I get in touch?

See the contacts, drop an email. We will be getting back to you as soon as we can.