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Few new buildings have captured the public imagination quite like the Masaryčka building by Zaha Hadid Architects. But behind its golden fins and organic curves lies more than just a collection of offices, restaurants, and cafés. It’s also home to a new showcase for Czech glassmaking: the Crystalex flagship store. Its presence in one of the decade’s most progressive architectural projects is a deliberate statement, signalling the brand’s ambition to cast itself in a new, more confident light. This is echoed in the showroom’s interior, which plays on the contrast between raw, exposed concrete, the building’s bare skeleton, and a central Barrisol installation. This feature winds through the space like a softly glowing ribbon, serving as the main display for the individual glass pieces. The effect is a clean, gallery-like space that gives the forms and decorative details of the glass room to breathe.
The company presents its full portfolio here, from the simple, functional tableware of the Home range to its decorative coloured lines. Naturally, there are also nods to historical forms in the Heritage collection, alongside exclusive editions created solely for this store, which pair glass with other materials. These include a saké and sushi set with wooden chopsticks, rests, and ceramic soy sauce bowls in a matching décor, or a vase and bowl pair accompanied by an embroidered runner. In doing so, the brand reveals its ambition to create not just glassware, but a holistic vision for the art of dining.
While Crystalex presents the modern face of glass production, a significant part of the showroom is devoted to another name: Egermann. It acts as a more intimate counterpart, where the focus is on hand-craftsmanship, uniqueness, and an exceptionally powerful heritage. Its story began in the early 19th century, when Czech glass was in crisis, failing to compete with English cut glass and colourful French imports. It was then that a young Friedrich Egermann embarked on a daring mission; disguised as a knife-grinder, he infiltrated the famous Meissen porcelain works to uncover its colour secrets. Returning to Nový Bor, he threw himself into experimentation. Years of trial and error followed, but they yielded several breakthroughs. He first perfected agitating and enamelling, but his life’s work was the discovery of coloured stains – first yellow, and later his most famous invention, a radiant ruby red. This technological revolution made it possible to colour glass in rich, deep hues previously unseen in Europe.
His workshop grew into a manufactory, and the Egermann name became a byword for the luxurious, colourful, masterfully engraved glass that graced the tables of European aristocracy. Today, the brand, acquired by Crystalex in 2023, is no nostalgic replica. Instead, it’s a creative answer to the question: what would the founder himself create if he were alive today? A feel for detail, innovation, and craft is applied to contemporary tastes, as seen in the delicate floral Lady line, where the traditional engraving feels more like a light sketch. Alongside it sits the more minimalist Gentleman range, featuring the Bank Note whisky set with a décor loosely inspired by historical securities. Ultimately, the store provides more than an introduction to two noble brands: it offers a true immersion in the diverse world of contemporary Czech glass.
