Weaving a thread of care that unites glass, craft, and community in a vibrant ecosystem of resilience and possibility. Creating luminous objects in which the legacy of Czech glassmaking continues to breathe and shine.
On the shelves of Czech homes, delicate handmade glass objects rest like sleepy relics, preserved for celebrations that come infrequently. These glittering artifacts of a rich glassmaking heritage are in danger of extinction, threatened by soaring energy costs and eroding demand. With Bohemian Crystal, Marie Kolářová invites us to forge a bond with this endangered glass.
Taking up motifs that resonate with centuries of skill and memory, nesting, rectangular and slender vases are created, designed to find a place in contemporary spaces, resulting in a speculative reimagining of craftsmanship as kinship. In their shimmering planes, the past does not disappear, but evolves, inviting a new generation to see handmade glass not as a relic of nostalgia, but as an active part of a sustainable future.
This practice is not solitary, but supportive. Kolářova collaborates with craftsmen from Šumava, whose hands carry the wisdom of generations. Together, they reformulate the links between craft and object, between material and history, between craft and the ecosystems of energy and culture in which it is embedded. Sustainability here is not a buzzword, but a lived ethic, a refusal to let this craft fall into obsolescence or exploitation.