Excursion: Hergiswil II

The two artisans in the photo are making triangular bowls ("Foglio"). A finished bowl can be seen on the left of the photo, and a glowing-hot one is near the center.

The Glasi in Hergiswil was founded in 1817 by the Siegwart family and it flourished for over a hundred years. However, by 1975 it was no longer competive with the modern automated manufacturing plants abroad and there were some dark years when it looked as though it was doomed altogether. It was saved through the efforts of the glassblowers, the community and, most importantly, the vision of Roberto Niederer (1928-1988), a glass designer originally from Naples, Italy. Robert Niederer, his son, is the current head of the factory.

The Glasi is now well-established and employs about a hundred people. They have a little museum on site (free!) which opens onto a gallery where visitors can observe the glassblowers at work (location from which I took the photo).

Some tidbits:
- Glasi doesn't use lead in its glass. The resulting glass has a higher melting temperature (thus hardens in less time than leaded-glass) and the artisans have to work quickly to form the pieces.
- The furnaces have a lifetime of 5 to 8 years (24-hour operation), cost CHF 3 million each and require 2 months to assemble. The temperature in the heart of the furnaces is 1500 deg Celsius.
- The artisans currently at work at the Glasi come from Portugal, Italy, Spain und Switzerland. They work in 2 shifts from 05:00 to 21:00

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