Edinburgh Crystal
Encyclopedia
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
crystal manufactured in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
between 1867 and 2006, and was also the name of the manufacturing company. In addition to drinking glasses, Edinburgh Crystal have made decanter
Decanter
A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid which may contain sediment. Decanters are normally used as serving vessels for wine. Decanters vary in shape and design. They are usually made of an inert material and will hold at least one standard bottle of wine...
s, bowls
Bowl (vessel)
A bowl is a common open-top container used in many cultures to serve food, and is also used for drinking and storing other items. They are typically small and shallow, although some, such as punch bowls and salad bowls, are larger and often intended to serve many people.Bowls have existed for...
, basket
Basket
A basket is a container which is traditionally constructed from stiff fibres, which can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are...
s, and bell
Handbell
A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle — traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic — and moves the wrist to make the hinged clapper inside the bell strike...
s, in several ranges. The company have produced the glass panels for the lamps
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
royal
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
s.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/17/wcoach117.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/17/ixnews.html
The Edinburgh Crystal company went into administration in 2006 and, following its subsequent acquisition by Waterford Wedgwood
Waterford Wedgwood
Waterford Wedgwood plc is the former holding entity for a group of companies headquartered in Ireland, which specialised in the manufacture of high quality china, porcelain and glass. The group was dominated by Tony O'Reilly and his immediate family, and the family of Mr. O'Reilly's second wife,...
, is now solely a brand name.
Ranges
There were many ranges of glassware but at the collectable end there have been just four in the former 'ConnoisseurConnoisseur
A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...
Collection'.http://www.edinburgh-crystal.co.uk/?action=connoisseurcollection
- 'Star of Edinburgh' - decorated with a star-burst pattern.
- 'Thistle' - the tops of these pieces are shaped in accordance with the thistleThistleThistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
theme while the body is stippledStipplingStippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists.-Art:...
. - 'King James' - glassware in this range are notable for the long stems and neck and are loosely based on that in use in the 17th century.
- 'Lochnagar' - Lochnagar was introduced during the reign of Queen Victoria and can be identified by its swirling pattern.
Collaboration by design
For several years students from Wolverhampton UniversityUniversity of Wolverhampton
The University of Wolverhampton is a British university located on four campuses across the West Midlands and Shropshire. The city campus is located in Wolverhampton city centre with a second campus at Compton Park, Wolverhampton; a third in Walsall and a fourth in Telford...
and the Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....
were employed, for periods of 12–15 months, to work in the design department. This provided the students with work experience while inputting new design ideas. The 'Edge' range came out of this collaboration.
Visitor centre
This visitor centreVisitor center
A visitor center or centre , visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to the visitors who tour the place or area locally...
, now closed, hosted around 100,000 people, each year, who came to Penicuik to see how the glass was made. It was situated off the A701 in Penicuik; OS ref: NT 239608.http://www.discovertheborders.co.uk/places/176.html
History
Glass container manufacturing can be traced back for at least 400 years. However, it was only in the 19th century that commercial companies appeared on the scene.Amongst them, in 1867, the Edinburgh and Leith Flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
Glass Company was established. Alexander Dixson Jenkinson took over the business upon the death of his father in 1880. Alexander Jenkinson died in 1909 and the business was inherited by Stanley Noel Jenkinson.
1921 saw Thomas Webb and Sons Limited of Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, buy Edinburgh Crystal which continued to trade under its own name.
1955 brought a name change from the Edinburgh and Leith Flint Glass Company to The Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company.
Further corporate activity took place in 1964 when Crown House Limited acquired The Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company and Thomas Webb and Sons.
During 1969, there was a move to a site of over 7 acres (28,328 m²) in Penicuik
Penicuik
Penicuik is a burgh and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. The town was developed as a planned village in 1770 by Sir James Clerk of Penicuik. It became a burgh in 1867. The town was well known for its paper mills, the last of which closed in 2005....
(which means ‘hill of the cuckoo’), some 10 miles (16.1 km) from Edinburgh.
Then in 1971 Edinburgh Crystal and Thomas Webb merged with Dema Glass, another Crown House subsidiary. Thomas Webb and Sons and The Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company traded well resulting in 1987 in being incorporated into the Coloroll Group.
After Coloroll went bankrupt, Caledonia Investments, with the support of senior managers, led a buy-out of the Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company and the Thomas Webb and Sons brand in 1990. The new company moved all manufacturing and distribution to its site in Penicuik.http://www.edinburgh-crystal.co.uk/?action=history_2
In April 2004, Edinburgh Crystal bought Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
Glass from the receivers Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
. Caithness are notable for paperweights
Paperweight collecting
Fine glass paperweights, are widely produced, collected and appreciated as works of art, and are often exhibited in museums as examples of fine glass art.They are made entirely of glass by sole artisans, or factories, usually in limited editions...
and the trophy
Trophy
A trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics...
presented to the winner of the BBC's
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
programme.http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_200404/ai_n12587972
On 21 May 2006, the offices of the headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
were burnt out.http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17111287&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=glass-firm-blaze--name_page.html
On 26 July 2006, the Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company Ltd went into administration. Its two subsidiaries, the Caithness Glass Company Ltd and Selkirk Glass Ltd, continued to trade.http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/press_release/0,1014,sid%253D2825%2526cid%253D125031,00.html
On 31 July 2006, 300 of Edinburgh Crystal's 450 workforce were made redundant.http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/66952.html
On 5 August 2006, Caithness Glass Company Ltd went into administration.
On 10 August 2006, Selkirk Glass Ltd went into administration. It ceased trading soon afterwards.
In 2007 Edinburgh Crystal was bought and relaunched by Waterford Wedgwood
Waterford Wedgwood
Waterford Wedgwood plc is the former holding entity for a group of companies headquartered in Ireland, which specialised in the manufacture of high quality china, porcelain and glass. The group was dominated by Tony O'Reilly and his immediate family, and the family of Mr. O'Reilly's second wife,...
. Today the company exists as a brand name only, with all of the manufacturing being carried out overseas.
The Caithness Glass arm of the business was purchased by Dartington Crystal
Dartington Crystal
Based in Torrington in north Devon, England, Dartington Crystal manufactures crystal glassware using traditional Swedish glass blowing techniques.-History:...
and is still trading with paperweights still being hand crafted in Scotland.