Riedel (glass manufacturer)

Riedel (pronounced REE-dəl) Crystal is a glassware manufacturer based in Kufstein, Austria, best known for its glassware designed to enhance different types of wines. Established in Bohemia in 1756, the company is managed by Georg Riedel and Maximilian Riedel.

Josef Riedel The Elder (sixth generation, 1816–94) was born in the time of the industrial revolution. He owned eight glassworks in 1858 to include two textile factories and coalmines. His glassworks produced glass jewellery, beads and chandelier parts and in 1873, they began producing luxury hollow glass products too. He received many accolades for his achievements: he was awarded the ‘Grand Prix’ at the World Fair in Vienna in 1873, honorary citizenship by local authorities in Franzesbad and Wiesenthal and he was awarded an Order by the Pope.

Through hard work and diligence, he was a contemporary model for success in business. His employees respectfully addressed him as ‘Mr. Father’ and his contemporaries referred to him as the ‘Glass King of the Iser Mountains’. Josef Riedel dedicated his life to building an empire with solid foundations. He did not discount prices – on the contrary, he offered only quality products and customers appreciated this.

In addition, Josef was an extensive landowner, a well-known banker and financier in the mountainous region. He helped businesses that needed capital, provided loans at 6% interest, and even assisted them financially to find export markets. It was his financial support in 1861, for example, which allowed the company Gebrüder Feix in Albrechtsdorf to get started, which went on to become one of the largest manufacturers of buttons, black fashion jewellery and crystal wares in the land. It was in this company where Daniel Swarovski later began his career.

The Riedel company operated retail warehouses in all major manufacturing locations around Gablonz. The owners of these companies regularly informed the Riedels about current demand, competition, and big orders that exporters then forwarded to their suppliers for production. Josef Riedel was also respected as a glass expert in his own right. The industrial magnate Josef Schreiber, head of Vienna's big glass company Josef Schreiber & Neffen, even called him the greatest expert on glassmaking in Bohemia.

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