2024, the year of all records… Waiting for the next Christmas? The years follow one another and are similar for the international glass art center of Meisenthal, as for the Cristallerie Lehrer, based in Garrebourg. A few weeks before the Christmas holidays, it's time to make your tree… And adorn it with a Christmas bauble from Moselle glassworks. “Who would have thought in 1999, that a few local scholars would re-trigger this wonderful story today. It is since this date that we have been republishing old traditional subjects, and that we have invited designers to revisit this tradition,” recalls Yann Grienenberger, director of the international glass art center in Meisenthal.
This year, the local institution released Kaktus. A Christmas bauble that mischievously evokes global warming: “With it, we wonder what Moselle Christmases could be like in 200, 300 years, without a tree… But with cacti. “It’s an opportunity to approach the subject with irony.”
You have to see the queues to acquire the beautiful object in the tourist spot of Moselle Est. For several years, buyers have had to be patient. To the point that a new virtual queuing system was put in place this year. “In the first years, these contemporary balls had little success. I'll let you imagine the journey taken together, the glassmakers, the elected officials, the partners, to go from 50 balls to 83,000 last year. And every year the story repeats itself, in January, we wake up with difficulty from a tough, difficult but exciting season, and we go back to work, we develop a project,” continues Yann Grienenberger.
“Stocks melting faster than expected”
This undeniable success is also felt in Moselle Sud. Head to Garrebourg where Cristallerie Lehrer has released its 6th homemade Christmas bauble. For this new edition, the Christmas ball made by the crystal factory takes the shape of a tree. “We reworked it by giving it this edge, bevel aspect, which gives it an origami side, almost a modern shape, but which is inspired by our primary profession of tailor,” confides Arnaud Lehrer, the boss of the crystal factory. The latter begins to make her ball in the summer. Visitors who sometimes come from far away can therefore take advantage of their visit to Moselle to acquire it well in advance. And it is also a way for the crystal industry to prepare for the wave of demand as winter approaches. “The ball has been a real success since we have already blown 15,000 pieces currently, and we have stocks which are melting faster than expected. We’re not going to complain about it, it’s a pleasure,” underlines the business manager.
The success story is not without displeasing the president of the department, Patrick Weiten. On the occasion of the launch of Noëls de Moselle, on November 19, the latter declared: “I am betting that the sales figures for Christmas baubles will be largely exceeded in two or three years. This contributes to the attractiveness of the territory. Here we have the demonstration, we are talking about the know-how of the women and men who make the glassware. When we imagine a ball that refers to a cactus, it allows us to say that we have imagination at the service of tourism and development. Who would have imagined thirty or forty years ago talking about tourism in Moselle. “It’s a new economy that’s taking hold in the department.”
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