Glas Nederland

Dutch glassware

Dutch glassware enjoys a high international status. In the nineteenth century there were few glass factories in the Netherlands. They mainly focused on bottles and packaging, table glassware was often imported from Germany and Bohemia. Glass and crystal were real luxury products. The best-known factories from that period are Regout & Co (later merged into Kristalunie) and the white glass factory in Leerdam. These factories grew strongly until 1914 and produced for the world market. During the wars, raw materials were scarce, so international products took over the market. The Dutch manufacturing market did not recover until the 1940s. Now Royal Leerdam Crystal is once again a global player.

In the nineteenth century, different design styles coexisted. Design ideas were rapidly adopted by the distribution of illustrated catalogs printed by the glass factories. Molds were also taken over and sold on, making the origin of glassware difficult to trace. From the twentieth century, artists were increasingly called in to design glassware.