The History of Czech Glass Beads

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Czech glass beads are beautiful options for your jewelry designs and are available in an endless variety of shapes, styles, and colors. The Czech Republic has long been one of the leading producers of beads in the world. We’re diving into the history of how Czech glass beads came to be as incredible as they are today. 

The Early Years – 8th-16th Centuries

The area where Czech glass beads are now produced was once known as Bohemia. Evidence of glass bead-making has been found in this area as far back as the 8th and 9th centuries. Celts living in the area were quite skilled at glass making. The glass beads from this era were often found in tombs.

Glass was being produced in the 12th and 13th centuries, as well. Records show orders from abbeys in the area for glass images (most likely mosaics or stained glass) from local factories. Documents from this time period even show orders and levied taxes on glass. Glass factories in the Southwestern part of Bohemia were making beads, specifically rosaries.

Why would Bohemia have such a long tradition of glass making? For one, the area was perfect for glass-making. There was an abundance of good quartz in the mountains to grind down and use for the silica base of glass; cheap labor could be found in plenty; the plethora of forested land meant plenty of wood to burn to produce the high heat needed for the furnaces (the ashes of which could then be used in making potash, an essential ingredient in Czech glass); the numerous streams in the region could also provide water power. Thus, glass making became more and more of a tradition and an industry as the years went on.

It wasn’t until the 16th century, around the 1550s, that glass bead-making became more of a major industry. Beaded costume jewelry became fashionable at this time, mainly around the towns of Jablonec, Stanovsko, and Bedrichov.  At this time, Bohemia saw a boom in cottage industries making beads for larger glass jewelry factories.

Bead Production and Industrial Expansion – The 18th and 19th Centuries

The 18th century was really the beginning of serious bead production. By 1700, Bohemia was known for its glass production, but mostly it was glassware (think vases and cups). Production of glass beads ramped up when stone cutters started to worry about the competition Venetian beads were giving them. Research into the secrets of Venetian glass beads led to the creation of a glass mixture that closely resembled garnets. After this discovery, more inventions essential to the bead-making industry were created, like canes (rods of glass) and pressing tongs.

The industrial expansion of the 19th century led to even more of a boom in glass bead production. By this time, thousands of people were employed in Bohemian glass works and coal was replacing wood as a more economical fuel source. Railroad expansion also made transportation easier. This time also brought improved pressing methods and other new processes. Glass could be blown into molds, a machine was patented that could press beads and buttons, and mandrel pressing also became a new process. A die machine was also invented at this time. These new methods, inventions, and processes allowed mass production and Bohemia turned out more beads at a lower cost. The region was exporting millions and millions of beads a year.

This is also the time when more complex bead shapes, colors, and finishes could be made. Patterned canes with elaborate colors made beads of the same shape look different from each other. The result was the start of amazing glass creations like the Aurora Borealis (AB) finish, fire-polished beads, Picasso beads, and flower beads.

The bead industry was booming, but it was still an at-home, cottage industry effort. The making of most beads was carried on in homes where small wood furnaces provided heat to melt the canes made by the large manufacturers. After heating, the canes would be pinched off with tongs, drawn out and put into molds. The worker then pressed a bead shape, removed it from the mold and then warmed it in a pot by the fire, where it would slowly cool. After cooling, the mold marks were ground down and the bead would be polished on a rotating wooden disc, often powered by water from an adjacent stream. Small beads might also be fire-polished (re-fired to create shinier facets).

This time period also saw the rise of “Sample Men”. These men were a result of the competition between bead makers in Bohemia and Venice. These men searched for new designs to come up with ideas for new beads. It involved travelling all over the world and gathering information on the style of beads in demand. These Sample Men went so far as Africa, Tibet, and Japan.

With their travels, bead demand grew and production increased. Glass makers’ schools were set up in the region at different locations. Many glass schools founded in the 1800s are still functioning today. Jablonec also emerged at this time as the capital of bead and jewelry production in Bohemia. In fact, one of the most important sources of information on the beads produced by the Bohemian/Czech industry is the collection of the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewelry in Jablonec. 

Setbacks and Revival – The 20th Century and Now

As the world moved into the 20th century, World War I seriously hurt the industry. When the war ended, a new nation was created: Czechoslovakia, of which Bohemia became a part. However, bead production was still at a peak. In the 1920s, millions of tons of glass were being exported.

When the depression hit, Jablonec and other bead producers were hit hard. World War II followed, this time with Czechoslovakia at the center of it all. When Eastern Europe adopted Communism, the industry changed. All glass works and glass houses were nationalized in the late 1940s and the industry was allowed to decline.

Then, in 1958, the decision to let the industry decline was reversed and bead making was revived. The value of beads, costume jewelry, and other glass products was recognized once more, and the export of these goods was encouraged. At this time, huge nationalized factories were built.

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Although Czech bead making suffered setbacks during the two World Wars, The Great Depression, and Communist rule, the late 1980s brought the end of Communist control. Czechoslovakia split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The region that was once North Bohemia was now part of the Czech Republic. The bead making industry revived. This time saw a return to small scale production with individuals supplying local factories. Machine methods very similar to the ones used in the 19th century emerged, but with improved technology. Jablonec, where the earliest industries began, is still the center of the Czech bead industry.

Recently, the historic cottage style of bead making has been once again hit hard by the emergence of large scale producers and direct competition from India, China, and Japan. It’s hard to say where the future of Czech glass lies, but we do know we still have beautiful Czech glass beads made with techniques passed down and refined from all those centuries ago in Bohemia. You can explore the many beautiful shapes and colors we sell here. You can learn more about the art of making Czech glass beads in today’s industry with Lenka from Raven’s Journey in this Artbeads Cafe episode.

Sources: Beadresearch.org provides fascinating and helpful insight into the many different histories of beads around the world. You can learn more about Czech glass beads in this PDF from their publications of the Center for Bead Research. 

The image above shows Grandma Rolls Off teaching granddaughter
Cecelia Yellow Robe the art of beadwork around 1936.

You can tell a seed bead from a bugle, and you’re familiar with all the modern varieties and shapes of beads and know how to use them. But, did you ever wonder where it all began?

The short answer is that as with many other things, the beginning was happening in many places at the same time, so if you have a moment, grab a cuppa and join me as I hop back and forth and drop in on significant moments in the development of beads.

Throughout the ages and across all studied societies, there have been beads. These have served many important functions, apart from being aesthetically pleasing, they have been used as currency, in meditation and prayer and to denote social standing or power.

The creation and use of beads is reputedly the oldest art form known to mankind. Evidence still exists that back in Neanderthal times the earliest tool using people, were using these tools to make beads. They were making holes in bones and grooves in teeth so that they could be worn as jewellery. The oldest beads still in existence were discovered in Skhul Cave in Israel. These 1cm snail shells had been drilled to be threaded and worn as jewellery, and have been dated as having been created some 100,000 years ago. Ever resourceful, mankind has often utilised whatever came to hand so we can also find very early examples of beads made from drilled ostrich eggshells found in Kenya and carved eagle talons in Croatia and these have been dated as having been made some 40,000 years plus. But the diminutive Skhul sea snail shell beads hold the record so far. Aside from creating jewellery, the stone age people went on to add beads to their clothing. Not beads as we’d know them, but rather, large heavy pieces of shell ivory or bone.

Meanwhile, across different cultures and societies, methods of production and styles continued to be developed depending on what was available material wise and of course, influenced by the progress of available practices or technologies. The ability to control fire, for example, was a big developmental hand up for progress. Using fire, early Egyptians developed one of the first forms of glass making. They crushed quartz to a fine powder and mixed it with plant ash, and then they heated this at low temperatures in clay containers to form a ball of molten faiene. This substance was then cooled, crushed again and mixed with colour, which was usually blue or red.

Glass Mosaic Beads Created in first Century and a string of 10 beads from 400 - 200 BC

After undergoing a second higher heating in another clay pot, it was once more cooled and the vessel was broken. This would then reveal a thick glass ingot which was worked on by artists to transform into a variety of many prized objects including beads. These glass beads would often find themselves in the company of kings and Pharos entombed in pyramids. A lot of effort though eh? No just ordering from the internet or a pleasant afternoon of shopping at a local bead fair or favourite shop.

So where was I? yes, progress and this time in the form of exploration, let’s go there. The world was opening up, and Marco Polo was visiting Venice and trading beautiful Asian beads made from precious and semi-precious stones. In 1292 all glassmakers in Venice had been moved to the Island of Murano, to lessen the threat of fire that glassmaking brought to the wooden structures housed on the Islands. Gathered together, sharing glassmaking secrets and honing their craft this community of artisans on Murano were much taken with these treasures and used all their skills to reproduce these jewels and stones from the glass.

Venetian Millefiori bead made in Murano around 1850

This was achieved as early as the fourteenth century. These artisans went on to develop glass canes known as Rosetta. The structure of this creation was a central hollow cane with six additional layers of glass, in different colours. When ground down, this produced five concentric stars with 12 points. This innovative production method radically increased the number of beads that could be produced. This cane was later produced without the hole, as Millefiori.
Still held as the centre of excellence for glass today, this small island continues to produce exquisite examples of handmade glass beads including stunning examples of the 17th-century invention of lampwork glass. Some may wish it noted that around this time Holland was also producing vast amounts of glass beads used in trade, although the glassmakers of that time in Holland were Venetian, we don’t have time for that right now because meanwhile elsewhere.

Significantly in the 15th century, merchants have begun exploring America and Africa and beads were being developed into currency. The European ceramic and glass beads were being introduced to a variety of indigenous peoples and traded for furs and other commodities. Gradually this led to local handmade bone and shell beads being replaced totally by the European ceramic and glass ones. Glass eventually winning out as it proved cheaper and speedier to produce. Happily, the art of the beadworkproduced by Native Americans has never been lost. As popular as ever it can be found in richly decorated items of clothing, belts and headdresses as embroidery or the bead weaving patterns still indicative of a particular tribe.

Mohave Beadwork collar circa 1890

In many societies, the rarer the bead, the more valued it became, indicating wealth and status. But it was not only social status that such ornaments communicated.

The placement or patterns created by such decoration could declare marital status,
age and personal achievements or even the origins of the wearer. In medieval England, the richly decorated garments were worked in beads made from precious and semi-precious stones and so expensive that they were worn only for high days and holidays and then only by the nobility or the clergy.

Where does the word bead come from? Well, I’m glad you asked. Apparently, from the English gebed or ebed meaning prayer or request, the dutch bede, the German Gebet. You pays your money and you takes your choice!

Throughout many world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam,
Sikhism and the Bahá’í Faith beads have their role to play even today. The beads are used as a mnemonic for counting prayers. It is believed that during medieval times such prayer beads would have been the most commonly owned piece of jewellery across all social classes but that the materials fashioned to create the pieces would, of course, have varied widely from precious stones and metals to wood and bone.

Anglican Prayer Beads

Today, of course, we have amazing resources at our fingertips, all just a click
away. When considering our options we can shop the world! Make your choice from the fabulous glass beads from the Czech Republic, crystals, pearls gemstones and of course locally sourced handmade ceramic and glass beads handmade with love and care by local artisans, well worth scoping out. Why not consider making your own from polymer clay or paper? You could be part of the future of bead making.

There really is something for everyone regardless of budgets or skillset. So come on in, the water’s lovely.

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