Zwiesel Kristallglas

Founding

On 25 November 1872 sheet glass was manufactured for the first time in a new glassworks, whose designer was the Zwiesel carter, Anton Mueller. In 1878 a storage hall, a house and stables were added for the factory manager; in 1883 the factory pub was opened.

Sale

On 7 November 1884, Mueller sold the factory with the buildings and a surface area of altogether 3.045 hectares for 36,000 Goldmarks to the brothers Theodor and Gustav Tasche of Cologne. The Zwieseler Farbenglashütte Gebrüder Tasche, generally only called Tasche Glassworks, was converted into a corporation on 21 June 1898. The share capital of the Zwieseler Farbenglashütten, vorm. Gebrüder Tasche, Aktiengesellschaft amounted to 525,000 marks.

Renaming and expansion

On 1 September 1899, a glass plant in Pirna was acquired for 675,000 marks and the company was renamed the Vereinigte Zwieseler und Pirnaer Farbenglaswerke AG. The share capital was increased to 1,200,000 marks. The Zwieseler plant supplied antique glass, so-called "Pirna Kathedralglas".

The enterprise was constantly extended and equipped with new technical equipment. The years 1914 to 1918 during World War I, as well as the postwar years, brought significant difficulties. In 1924 the production range was extended, as container glass was produced for the first time for drinking glasses.

Colour glass plant

In Zwiesel a colour glass plant started manufacturing crystal glass in 1953. In 1961 the machine production of cup glasses began, which were quite successful on the glass market. In 1972 the Zwieseler company took over sales of the well-known heat-proof and chemically resistant "Jena glass". On 17 August 1972 the company was renamed Schott Zwiesel Glaswerke AG.

In the 1970s considerable expansion took place. In 1973 an area of about 100,000 m² was purchased in Zwiesel, on which a new plant was built. The annual turnover increased from 46 million DM in 1971 to 120 million DM in 1978. In 1979 the Schott Zwiesel Glaswerke AG employed about 1,900 workers and was one of Europe's largest cup glass manufacturers.

After further developments in the 1980s a steady decline in the number of jobs took place. In 2001 this number had fallen to 569, while turnover was still approximately 100 million DM.

Products

Tritan is a type of so called unbreakable glass originally developed by Zwiesel Kristallglas in 2002 together with University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. Its name is derived from titanoxide (titanium oxide in English). In 2012, the Zwiesel Kristallglas company introduced Tritan Protect.