Waterford Glass

Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of crystal, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. The brand is owned by WWRD Group Holdings Ltd., a luxury goods group which also owns and operates the Wedgwood and Royal Doulton brands, and which was acquired on 2 July 2015 by the Fiskars Corporation.

In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal base was closed due to the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood PLC. In June 2010, Waterford Crystal relocated almost back to its original roots, on The Mall in Waterford city centre. This new location is now home to a manufacturing facility that melts over 750 tons of crystal a year. This new facility offers visitors the opportunity to take guided tours of the factory and also offers a retail store, showcasing the world's largest collection of Waterford Crystal.

The origins of crystal production in Waterford date back to 1783 when George and William Penrose started their business. It produced extremely fine flint glass that became world-renowned. Their Waterford company closed in 1851, and re-opened 100 years later.

In 1947, Czech immigrant Charles Bacik, grandfather of Irish senator Ivana Bacik, established a glass works in the city. Skilled crystal workers were not available in Ireland so continental Europeans were used. Aided by fellow countryman and designer Miroslav Havel, the company started operations in a depressed Ireland. By the early 1950s it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company, owned by Joseph McGrath, Richard Duggan and Spencer Freeman of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake, heavy investors in Irish business at that time.

In 1970 John Aynsley and Sons was taken over by Waterford and renamed Aynsley China Ltd.

Jasper Conran began designing his signature range of crystal for Waterford in 1999. The endeavour has evolved into four unique lines for Waterford and a complementary tableware collection in fine bone china for Wedgwood in 2001. The Chinese fashion designer John Rocha started designing a range of cut crystal stemware and vases in collaboration with glass designer Marcus Notley in 2001.

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Wikipedia