The three centuries of the Czech / Bohemian glass bead industry stem from the expertise of their stone cutters, working with bright red garnets in and around the Bohemian village of Turnov, in today's Czech Republic. Development of glassmaking began in the early 1700's to compete with the Venetians, who had started to produce less expensive translucent red glass and depress the genuine garnet market.
From those times, the Czechs developed their bead-making into a fine art, at first researching the world market and copying popular original beads in glass, then creating their own styles and becoming one of the leading producers of trade beads which were distributed throughout the world. Their tradition of fine bead-making continues to this day, as can be seen by the examples of old and new glass offered in our store.