The Beauty of Glass Chandeliers

Glass chandeliers have been in demand since its conception back in the 18th century. However, since the introduction of lead oxide to glass manufacturing, the material has gone through much transformation by many influential glassmakers. This is perhaps why many crystal chandeliers may be actually made of glass. The only difference is that the definition of crystal is actually glass with a pre-defined percentage of lead within. As the 24% lead oxide content does an amazing job in making glass shine, they are called crystal instead of glass.  The rule of thumb is: the more lead it contains, the more dazzling it will become and the more you have to pay for it.

Many well-known glass chandelier producers are also glass manufacturers, for example, Murano glass, Swarovski crystals and Czech glass or Bohemian glass. Each of these big names played a huge role in transforming glass chandelier manufacturing to how it is now.  Mouth-blown glass used in chandeliers that originated from the island of Murano back in the 1700s, produced spectacular and rather curvaceous glass designs. Close to two centuries later, Swarovski of Austria applied the jewelry cutting techniques into crystal chandeliers. The first glass chandelier workshop in Bohemia is owned by Josef Palme, which was one of the first Czech glass companies to influence future chandelier styles around the world. This is why today we use names to refer to our choice of style and designs in order to reduce the enormous scope.

Presently, chandeliers made from glass are available through hand-blown designs with more elaborate features of nature-based motifs. Influenced mostly by Robert Adam in the mid 18th century, bells, different replicas of flowers and dangling streams of jewelry had given new light to the constantly evolving styles of glass chandeliers. Staying in tune with modern advancements, candle holders have since been replaced with incandescent sockets whereby customers can choose between electrical candles or bulbs. Glass style chandeliers today furnish the high walls of churches, hotels and public buildings as a sign of a décor for the high-level society.