Every year all around the world a lot of money, thought, and time goes into Christmas ornaments. Sparkling ornaments and Christmas tree decorations make the Christmas tree look magical, festive, and fun. But not everyone knows when and how this good old tradition started.
Legend has it that the first Christmas tree was put up and decorated with candles and apples in Germany by none other than Martin Luther in order to entertain children. Trees later found their way into homes around Germany and Europe, where people adorned them with small pastries, cut into stars, angels, hearts, and flowers.
The first production of hand-blown glass Christmas ornaments, though, only started in the 1840s, in a small town called Lauscha, Germany. These ornaments had simple shapes, but were beautifully hand-painted and instantly became widely popular. As time passed, ornaments became more elaborate and unique.
After a picture of the Queen Victoria's and German Prince Albert’s Christmas tree was shown in a London newspaper, decorated with glass ornaments and balls, Lauscha began exporting its products throughout Europe and later to the USA and the Russian Empire.
In the beginning of the 20th century the manufacturing of glass Christmas tree ornaments with newer and more colorful designs started in Japan, Czech Republic, Russia, and some other countries.
The oldest enterprise of artisan craftwork of glass Christmas tree decorations in Russia is JSC Yolochka, located in Klin, Moscow oblast. The mastery of special techniques, talent, and creativity of folk craftsmen contributed to international recognition of the enterprise and multiple exhibition victories.
The indispensable part of Christmas, glass Christmas tree ornaments have come a long way from their humble origins. Executed with style and imagination, today’s glass ornament manufacture is a subtle art and items are still made and painted by hand.
Unpacking our favorite glass Christmas ornaments instantly takes us back to every winter holiday we lived through, especially if we always added new ornaments each year, to commemorate the year that passed and to welcome the brand new year that is to come next and the more symbolic these new ornaments are, the greater the sentiment of a year not wasted, but used to live life to the fullest is. That is why our hand-painted unique Christmas ornaments are greatly loved, highly demanded, and eternally treasured by our customers throughout the world!
Handmade Christmas ornaments make this even more special and memorable, as each such ornament always retains a tiny piece of its maker's soul, forever radiating it, ever-so-slightly, to everyone and everything around. At St-Petersburg GTH, we understand this, perhaps, better than most, as we get to import Glass Christmas Balls from Europe, personally examining each item, thus being able to behold and enjoy each ornament separately and the gestalt of all of the ornaments we have.
