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ABOUT US
| Table of contents |
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| About us - CrystAlaCarte.com |
| Mission Statement |
| About Ajka Crystal |
| Facts - 2002 |
| Company history - Table of honours |
| Location - Hungary |
| Location - Ajka |
| Visit to the company |
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| About us - CrystAlaCarte.com |
| CrystALaCarte.Com is member of the Alacartenet Group that is specialised in conducting international commerce. CrystALaCarte.Com is an authorized dealer of the Hungarian Ajka Crystal Ltd, the biggest and one of the eldest crystal-producer in Central-Eastern Europe. We are certain that the products of this company with more than hundred years of experience reach the highest standards of quality. Quality means for us customer satisfaction in the first line. CrystALaCarte is committed to its aim of offering the finest crystal products available today. Each piece is individually handcrafted to provide a permanent design of impeccable detail, that will provide its owner timeless elegance. |
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 We try to make it easy for our customers to shop 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, while providing you with the highest standards of secure online shopping. Our processing and delivery time is the shortest possible, and our customer service is on a high niveau. |
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| Mission Statement |
| What really makes CrystAlaCarte special is providing top quality, select crystal products at affordable price. We strive hard and strongly believe in the success of supplying quality-price combinations that not only equal but are better than those found anywhere, locally or internationally. It is our goal to offer a full array of professional services, a product line of great quality in an appropriate, pleasing and functional environment. We have to run our company in an innovative way to improve the quality of life of a broad community - local, national, international. We are holding a deep respect for individuals inside and outside the Company and for the communities of which they are a part. |
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| About Ajka Crystal |
 The company, one of the biggest in Central Europe produces unique, handmade pieces of glass art representing unsurpassed quality and timeless beauty. The company is proud to note the biggest international crystalware brands among its customers: Swarovski, Rosenthal (Germany), Royal Doulton, John Jenkins, Dartington (UK) Williams-Sonoma, Tiffany, Bloomingdales, Lenox, (USA) Hoya Glass, Sasaki Co. (Japan). The circle of these sophisticated buyers above serve as a guarantee for the high quality of Ajka Crystal products. Mr. Bernat Neumann
Founder of the company |
| Click here for more articles about our history » |
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| Facts - 2002 |
Ajka Crystal Ltd.
Turnover: USD 30 m
Employees: 1150
40000 products in portfolio
Customer basis: - USA 30%,
- Ireland 25%,
- Italy 22%,
- GBR 11%,
- Germany/Switzerland 5%,
- Japan 3%
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| Company history - Table of honours |
| 1878 | A glassworks of a new type - a factory was established in Hungary: Bernát Neumann's glass factory at Ajka. The enterprise first appeared in the report drawn up by Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in 1879 after winning the bronze medal in an exhibition held at Szekesfehervar. |
| 1888 | According to the catalogue of the National General Exhibition held in Budapest in 1885 Bernat Neumann's Ajka glass factory, then employed forty workers and a steam engine; its honours thus far amounted to the bronze medal won nine years before. At hte 185 exhibition the factory displayed "everyday and cut glassware" for which it won gold medal. The company was also awarded a grand prix de l'exposition for good competitiveness and progress. Judging from a wineglass from the Neumann period and from items in the collections of Budapest's Museum of Applied Arts, the factory in the 1880s also made high quality enamelled, cut and chased gilded and iridescent glassware, as well as red glassware and table glass. From the technical point of view these pedastalled glasses, wineglasses, bottles and table sets were on the highest level of the glassware of the period, surpassing the Bohemian and German quality and exhibiting the influence of the Historicist, Neorenaissance and Oriental styles. |
| 1891 | Neumann's company was taken over by the industry mogul Kossuch who has already owned a number of glass factories by that time. By 1891 Kossuch's firm had wide experiences home and abroad. It has participated at the world exhibitions held in London in 1892, in Vienna in 1873, in Paris in 1878 (silver medal) and 1900, and in St Louis (USA) in 1904 (gold medal). It Hungarian successes included a gold medals at the 1876 Szeged, 1879 Szekesfehervar, the 1896 Millennial and the 1904 Veszprém exhibitions. |
| 1920 | Besides applied arts considerations, the management of the factory is devoting special attention to Hungarian type forms, and to sets in select taste. The series of design is the most varied possible. In this respect the liqueur and long-necked glassware stand out virtue of the variety of forms and functional simplicity. The collection mentioned even received the attention of Edward,Prince of Wales who purchased a set during his 1935 visit to Budapest. |
| 1943 | The journal Hungarian Applied Art published a photograph of a jasper glass vase made by the Ajka factory and exhibited at the 1943 exhibition. For this work the applied artist Zoltán Eleod received a certificate of recognition. Eleod's activity was on an especially high level both artistically and technically. His glass objects showed the success of the functional trend in Art Deco, combined with an individual, inventive technical versatility. The characteristic type of 1930s product is the cocktail glass exhibiting a combination of black and colourless, transparent glass, with a finely shaped bowl embellished with doubly curved cone-shaped, finely delineated, cut motifs. |
| 1950 | In the 1950s and 1960s, in addtion to blown, coloured aquamarine, amber amethyst and smoke-coloured goblets and mass-produced glasses, the popular so-called tube glasses and colourless, transparent cut glass, the production of lead-glass was started. New compositions were applied, for example matt, rosy ornamentation, as well as traditional motifs, such as the pinwheel with its special light refraction and Sudeten ornamentation, with rich, lace-like cutting, featuring the baccarat star as a central motif. |
| 1970 | From the 1960s the chief designer of Ajka is the applied artist Ms. Magda Németh , who has worked in Ajka since 1959. She is a master of sets of dishes suitable for large-scale factory production, functional, yet highly decorative. Her spun-glass sets are outstanding. |
| 1990 | The latest experiment is being made with two-layer (überfanglich) glass. In contrast to Bohemian commercial laminated glass which imitates 19th century souvenir glasses, Magda Németh is working on geometric forms and ornamental patterns fully appropriate to both material and technique. In this respect she follows an individual course, even by international standards. |
| 2000 | Looking at the products of the last decades, Ajka has established design of craftsmanlike quality, hallmarked by the name of Tapio Wirkkala, thanks mostly to the efforts of Magda Németh- This is a rather great achievement, since the factory is trying to follow a path determined by its orders. |
| 2004 | Ajka Crystal introduces its pate de verre and cameo glass products on New York Tabletop Show. |
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 The factory at Ajka has been characterized by technical variety and flexible parallel application of hot and cold techniques ever since its foundation: from iridescent wineglasses of the 1880s to the laminated glass of today all techniques have been characterized by professional execution and, in the last decades, by special fine designs, bringing more and more recognition abroad. |
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| Location - Hungary |
 Hungary is situated on the border of the Western hemisphere and the former Soviet Union. The country has a history over twelve hundred years and has always been a key player in the Central European region. |
 The country was part of the polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire, which collapsed during World War I. The country fell under communist rule following World War II. In 1956 a revolt and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a massive military intervention by Moscow. In the more open 1980s Hungary led the movement to dissolve the Warsaw Pact and steadily shifted toward multiparty democracy and a market-oriented economy. The old manufactures and factories were privatised and began to flourish in the new economic circumstances. Hungary is member of the NATO since 1999 and memberstate of the European Union since 2004. |
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| Location - Ajka |
 The Company itself is located in the town of Ajka, which can be found in the Western part of Hungary. The town lies on the Southern slopes of the Bakony mountains and not far from Hungary's world famous Lake Balaton where tourists from all over the world spend their holidays. The town could provide ideal circumstances for factories and other plants with high energy consumption. Not far from the town three coalmines can be found that supply coal for the powerplants located in the outskirts. |
| From the volcanic mountain, Somlo, that is a well known for its vineyards, a scenic view opens to the small town lying below. |
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| Visit to the company |
| We occasionally provide the possibility to our customers to visit the company and receive unforgettable experiences about the procedure of blowing and cutting crystal. The town is not far from Hungary's favourite holiday attraction, Lake Balaton so we suggest to see the factory too to get in closer connection with the spirit of Hungarian crystal. In case you are interested in a guided tour please let us know and we will organise the rest for You. |
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| Other contents |
| A study about the lead crystal art glasses of Ajka Crystal between 1878-2005. |
| Read interesting facts about Hungarian glass production in the 19th and 20th century. |
| Modernisation of lead crystal glass production at Ajka Crystal. Technological and artistic renewal. |
| Read about early crystal glass technologies at Ajka Crystal Ltd. |
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Special Offer| We would like to make it easy for You to experience our high quality crystal products. In order to serve you better we are offering these products below at an even more competitive price for a limited time. |
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