Vintage bead lovers and collectors know that Germany has been a major contributor to the glass bead trade in the last century. After World War II, many bead makers relocated from the future Czech Republic to Germany, and continued to produce beautiful beads. The main settlement for these refugees was Neu Gablonz - named after the Bohemian city Gablonz, which would later become Jablonec nad Nisou. The first bead site was established in a bombed out munitions factory, and the trade flourished with thousands of artists at work. Today, there are fewer than 400 bead factories in the region, and many of them do not produce beads for resale, but for in-house jewelry designs.
Das Land der Dichter und Denker - the land of poets and thinkers - is home to more than 4000 museums, and an amazing 25000 libraries. Germany is also known for it’s musical influences, with hundreds of theatres and symphonies, as well as the legacies of composers like Beethoven and Bach.
The Neues Museum is one of particular interest for me - it is the current home of the infamous and beautiful bust of Nefertiti. The artifact was discovered in 1912 by Ludwig Borchardt, and has since traveled throughout Germany, to finally settle in the museum before World War II. There has been plenty of controversy surrounding Nefertiti, as the Supreme Council of Antiquities attempts to have their queen returned to her homeland. While in Germany, Nefertiti is visited by over half a million people every year.
Happy beading, Germany!
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those are brautiful! by the way, i'm a new follower, and hope someday, you'll be mine too!
ReplyDeletehttp://jewelrymaking4u.blogspot.com
I've subscribed only recently, so it was a nice surprise to see my country featured in your blog! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe Czech border is only a few hours from here, but would you believe it, it's not easy to find a good choice of Czech beads here in Germany. Maybe it's a case of the grass is greener over there, but it seems that there is a much better choice of quality Czech beads in the US. Go figure.
Lucky you! ;-)
To contribute to your German impressions, here are two truly outstanding German bead artists who I don't know in person, but whose work I admire:
Sabine Lippert:
http://try-to-be-better.blogspot.com/
Mariposa:
http://mariposa8000.blogspot.com/
Have a lovely weekend!
Renate from Germany
Great to meet you both! Thank you for the links, Renate - those are some talented beaders!
ReplyDeleteYay for Germany! My sister is there right now!
ReplyDelete