The Glass Cutting Championship Title Came Home

Our mastery of hand glass cutting sparkled at GCWC

Lighting Design Awards Lighting Craft & Tradition 3 min. reading

11. 6. 2024

Preciosa Lighting's craftsmanship and heritage shone through at the Glass Cutting World Cup, where original works of art are crafted right in front of guests.

Václav Erben, a Preciosa Lightkeeper, was hugely successful here. At the 10th annual Glass Cutting World Cup, which took place on 31.05.2024 at Světlá nad Sázavou, he secured first place in the category Hand grinding - Compulsory Creation.

Václav Erben

Our Lightkeeper and the new World Champion in the category Hand grinding - Compulsory Creation.

The winning vase with a decor of circles on water

A proper piece of crystal, which our craftsman had to work with, weighs a respectable 10 kg.

The story behind the champion

Mr. Erben's success is proof that craftsmanship is never forgotten. Today, Václav Erben is a manager at the Preciosa Lighting glass factory, and on the way to gold, he had to first brush up on his former grinding skills. That meant returning to the machine after an incredible 20 years!

Our tradition 300 light years further

This year we celebrate 300 years since master glassmakers in Kamenické Šenov tamed the light and stepped into an infinite space of imagination and artisan glassmaking. We are thrilled that this art still shines after three centuries at Preciosa Lighting, where it’s refined by modern technologies and innovations.

The championship victory of Václav Erben, along with last year's registration of Czech handmade glass production on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, is gleaming proof of this.

The symposium in Světlá nad Sázavou is always a showcase of the best glassmaking skills, especially master disciplines such as blowing and hand shaping without a mould, in which other Preciosa Lighting Lightkeepers participated with their skills.

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