New York’s MoMA collects it, star chef Alain Ducasse serves it, the best designers create it, and people all over the world treasure it everyday: glassware made by Vienna manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr sparks universal fascination.
Founded in 1823, this family-owned Viennese glassworks draws on six generations of research into the properties of crystal. This dedication and the resulting expertise have made Lobmeyr creations highly revered and sought after, renowned for their elegance and exquisite craftsmanship.
Throughout the past two centuries Lobmeyr has moved with the times, letting cultural developments influence its designs to reflect the wants and needs of its clientele.
In 1883, Lobmeyr and Thomas Edison made the first electric crystal chandelier for the Vienna Hofburg Palace. Another highpoint was the equipping of the great mosques of Mecca and Medina in the 1970s. Recently, the company renovated the crystal chandeliers of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It’s the little differences that make Lobmeyr glassware what it is. Before being sold, for example, the glassware has gone through at least 24 pair of hands and four separate quality controls, the last of which is always by a member of the family.
The mastery of the Lobmeyr glassblowers is world-renowned for their craftsmanship. This can be seen in their creation of thinly delicate muslin glass. Less than a millimeter thick, it creates a incomparably fine connection between mouth, glass and drink.
The magic of glass is that, although it is made from one of the most basic, common minerals on the planet, silicon dioxide, it can be transformed into something highly precious by skill alone
Lobmeyr glass designers are painters, architects and designers. Around the turn of the century, those were Josef Hoffmann or Adolf Loos, today it is Stefan Sagmeister, Ted Muehling and Marco Dessí have created their own designs amongst others.
The magic of glass is that, although it is made from one of the most basic, common minerals on the planet, silicon dioxide, it can be transformed into something highly precious by skill alone. ‘This is the essence of it; what we are all about,’ explains Leonid Rath, one of three acting partners of the family business.
Today the company offers a full range of forward-thinking contemporary designs and archive-inspired creations, catering to the broad and expanding tastes of consumers and collectors around the world and frequently collaborating with leading artists, architects and designers. A purchase from this establishment will encompass both beauty and value for years to come.