Inge-Glas® of Germany

Inge-Glas® of Germany

Beginning in 1597 in Lauscha, Germany, the Müller family created mouth blown glassware. Two and one-half centuries later, in the 1860s, the Müller-Blech family customized their craft to create mouth blown, hand painted ornaments. For nearly as many years, a second family, the Eichhorns, produced fine quality glassware as well.

In 1953, following the World War II Russian occupation of Lauscha, Heinz Müller-Blech fled to Neustadt-by-Coburg, Germany, and there he reestablished the family workshops. Today the company and its Christmas ornament collection, Inge's Christmas Heirlooms™, bear the name of his late wife.

In the early 1990s, through marriage, the Müller-Blech and Eichorn families combined their traditions and skills. Inge-Glas® remains a family operated business built by 14 generations of effort, heart, and soul. And to this day, many of the ornaments are handcrafted in molds that date to the 1860s.

Inge Glas and Old World Christmas: Between 1984 and 2000, The Merck Family's Old World Christmas distributed Inge-Glas® German-made ornaments in the United States. In 2001, Old World Christmas began producing its ornament designs in China, no longer capped with the Star Crown™, which is owned by Inge-Glas®. Since 2001, Inge-Glas® has exported its glass ornaments under its own name, complete with the exclusive Star Crown™, which continues to identify mouth blown, hand painted ornaments from the 14th generation Inge-Glas® family workshops in Neustadt-by-Coburg, Germany.

The pictures below are from a recent visit to the Inge-Glas® workshop in Neustadt-by-Coburg.
Mouth blowing clear glass ornaments. 

Hand silvering the inside of the ornaments. 

Hand painting each ornament - with dying time between each color.

Hand glittering each ornament - again, with drying time between each color.

Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, selecting ornaments with Klaus Müller-Blech, the 14th generation head of the family company.