Cristais Sao Marcos

I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to visit the Cristais Sao Marcos glassware factory in Pocos de Caldos. Here in the factory they make all different kinds of glassware ranging from vases to big ornate bowls and jugs. I was able to see how to they made some of their glassware, however unfortunately I wasn't permitted to take any pictures due to copyright of designs.

It was very interesting to see the process of how  glassware is manufactured. The process starts with a powder that comes as fine as sand but can also be as fine as salt. The powder comes from Brazil. They also use minerals to make the colours in the glass. They mix different kinds of minerals to make the colours. Most of the minerals are imported from France as it is quicker, if the factory order minerals from Brazil it can take up to 14 days where France is just one day.

Manufacturing the glassware is a very skilled job and apprentices are regularly taken on by the factory most last just 14 days as the job is tough and it can get very hot and be a very arduous job which can be dangerous however it is good to know that the factory haven't had an accident for four years as health and safety is very stringent. They have a rule that you can only walk in one direction so workers won't crash into each other.

Each worker making either a vase or a bowl has glass that is up to 400 degrees celsius on the end of a metal rod that is about a metre long. The glass is moulded and shaped by hand either using tools not dissimilar to a large pair of tweezers or newspaper which helps to give the rounded shape. Each piece of glassware is made up of a number of layers depending on the colour or size of the piece. Once the piece is complete it is placed in an oven so it can set, the oven is a large conveyor belt that varies in temperature the glassware passes through the oven through the varying temperatures. Once set the glassware is then finished using sandpaper and polished by hand. Each piece goes though rigourous quality control before it reaches the client/customer.

70% of the glassware is sold in Brazil and the other 30% is exported to America and Italy however most of the glassware exported to Italy is actually rebranded so people think its made in Italy when its actually made in Brazil!

I found looking at this process and watching how skilled the men where that were working enabled me to understand the process in much more depth than if I had read about it. It's such a shame I was unable to take photos as I feel that being able to share this process with my students through the use of imagery would have been extremely beneficial especially for GCSE students.