Nickolai Gurgeiff - Gus Khrustalny Zavod

The plant was founded in 1756 by a merchant Akim V. Maltsov. It was the time of the beginning glass industry development in Russia and of the producing of the glassware for daily use. The Crystal Plant of Gus - Khrustalny was the first to be present at the market offering an accessible assortment of production: made of plain glass, there were jars, carafes, glasses, etc. Famous carafes with cocks, bouquets produced in Gus - Khrustalny became well known in Russia and all over the world. From the moment of foundation, crystal had been manufactured there. Maltsov's crystal has quickly got recognition in Russian market. At the first All - Russian exhibition of manufactured production Maltsov was rewarded with a Great golden medal for "an excellent crystal". High quality of was noticed in following years. In 1857 the Crystal Plant was allowed to depict on the items the state coat of arms of Russia. In the reports of manufactures issued in these years Gus - Khrustalny is represented as "an only Russian crystal production", which worked using exceptionally Russian raw materials and fuel, and also with only Russian personal (about 4000 of people work there at the present moment). The plant executed the orders of tsar's court and supplied unique crystal production for the shah of Iran. Maltsov's crystal production was used for the cavalier and common tables and in suburban palaces of emperor. The circle of objects delivered to the all - Russian market was wide: from the kitchen ware up to church-plates from the simplest, the cheapest things for using in the household up to the most expensive, the greatest carved things were produced there. Traditional technologies developed and everything new which appeared in European artistic glass production was appropriated by the plant. The best production executed by the masters of the plant was represented at exhibitions abroad and has won prizes for originality and high level of the professional mastership. At the Universal exhibition in Paris in 1900 the production has won the highest prize "Grand Prix". In 50-th years professional artists came to the plant. An organized laboratory began to create a new assortment of production. In our time the ancient plant assimilates a big staff of artists - masters of decorative art and has the statute of the artistic production. In September 1990 the International symposium of artists took place with participators of many famous artists from Spain, England, Germany, USA, France, Netherlands and masters from Ukraine, Baltic states, Russia. The specialists representing different trends of glass production were united there. In our days Crystal Plant Ltd. produces a wide assortment of colored and colorless crystal, colored and colorless laid-on glass.