cultural support and education

In addition to its commercial activities, the Jablonex Group
is also open to cooperating on culturally-focused exhibition projects. In 1999 this took the form of cooperation on the “The World of Vanity Glass” exhibition, which was dedicated to the history of vanity glass and which was organised by the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou.

Jablonex Group (under the name of Ornela in those times) then put together the “Flight of the Glass Seagull” exhibition in 2001 in association with the MY Municipal Gallery in Jablonec nad Nisou. This exhibition focused on the artists-designers that worked for the glassmaking companies in the Jablonec area in years gone by, companies that were the predecessors of Jablonex Group itself. A catalogue of the same name was also published to accompany the exhibition. This contains profiles of the sculptors, painters, and designers whose products, or at least part of them have been made at the Jablonex Group glassworks until now.

Besides its exhibition projects, the company also endeavours to support non-commercial publication
projects. In 2002, the book “Pressed Glass and Crystalware in the Jizera Mountains” written by Petr Nový was published as part of the Ornela—Archive series. This book looks at the history of glass production, refining, and exporting in the area in which the Jablonex Group a.s. conducts its business. It provides in-depth information about the companies-predecessors of Jablonex Group in the production of crystalware in the Jizera Mountains (not only Heinrich Hoffmann and Curt Schlevogt, but also Rudolf Rabik, Vogel & Zappe, Eduard Dressler, Johann Umann, etc.). For the most part, this information has been published for the first time.

The company also pays great attention to cooperating with specialised schools of applied arts, which educate future professional workers for the glassmaking business. Five such schools exist in the Liberec area (the area in which Jablonex Group has its plants), schools that all have a rich and long-standing tradition. Our cooperation with these schools involves such elements as specialised excursions, placements, or creating competitions for students. In the year 2001 the company put together a creative competition for the students of glassmaking secondary schools in which the theme was to design a decorative glass object for the technique of hand pressing in a mould.

It was two years later that Jablonex Group organised a creative competition for students based on the theme of the “Guardian Angel”. This competition was intended for the students of the Glass School of Applied Arts in Železný Brod, who designed motifs for the decoration of a simple hand-blown vase from the company’s production output using the technique of sandblasting. Among the vases awarded by the commissions of the school and Ornela was the work of Denisa Lamačová printed here. Students at the Department of Coin and Metal Striking at the College of Applied Arts in Jablonec nad Nisou also created their graduation works (glass plaques) at Ornela in 2001 and again in 2005: David Trávníček with the theme of “Angel“ (2001) and Petr Zeman with “Dominik Biman” (2005).

The company also organised two extraordinary events together with the glass school in Železný Brod. The first of these, in 2004, involved the creation of four coloured vases based on the Elements (Fire, Water, Earth and Air). These vases were created at the glass school works using the technique of overlaid glass and are now owned by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. This was followed in 2006 and 2007 by the “Glass Landscape” project, in which four groups of students created fantasy landscapes using the company’s materials and semi-finished products. In fact the work created by students Alena Hájková and Vendulka Prchalová was so successful that it was used to represent the company at the Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt. In this way the Jablonex Group a.s. endeavours to motivate future artists and designers and find new, original ideas and unusual concepts for glass products.

The latest exhibition project involves cooperation with the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewellery on an exhibition entitled “Everyday Art—Václav Hanuš/Jizera Mountain Crystalware” in 2007–2008.