(6 Dec 2017) LEADIN :
From the White House and the Eiffel Tower to Britain's Queen Elizabeth, a Polish company is making traditional blown-glass Christmas tree baubles with modern appeal.
The fragile ornaments, called "bombki," are a fixture of Christmas in Poland, where they are made in many forms and designs.
STORYLINE:
Intricate designs decorate traditional blown-glass baubles known as "bombki".
Silverado, based in Jozefow, near Warsaw, employs some 50 people and works with another 150.
It sells about 1 million decorations a year, primarily in the United States and Europe, in an astonishing variety of forms and designs.
Its showroom is filled with hundreds of different, unusual Christmas tree decorations, ranging from glittering traditional bulbs to famous buildings like the White House, Britain's old red phone booths, vintage cars and flowers and vegetables.
The hand production is laborious. The glass shapes are blown by experienced specialists from glass tubes.
Glass blower Ryszard Baran, enjoys a challenging design.
He's lost count of how many baubles he has blown over the years.
"After half of million I stopped to count, because I certainly have blown so many."
The blowing bulbous shapes from glass are heated to over 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 Fahrenheit) .
The transparent bulbs are then passed to artists who give them a silver coating, by inserting a chemical solution containing silver into them and briefly immersing the bulbs in hot water, a process that produces the silver shine.
In another small house, filled with the stinging smell of enamel and glue, a few women are adding glitter, glass gems and other rich ornaments.
Magdalena Jaroszynska-Slodyczka, Silverado's co-owner and its artistic director, says their uniqueness makes them prized in the United States.
"They so popular in the US, I think that because they have their own, unique character. I think that because in Poland there is a very strong tradition, people are very attracted to Christmas and put in this work - because it is all hand made work - they put not only the physical effort but also some spiritual part, I would say."
From the White House and the Eiffel Tower to Father Christmases and elephants the Polish company can make any kind of blown-glass Christmas tree decorations that clients fancy.
" Well, the coolest thing is that our decorations are hanging in the White House every year, from almost twenty years. It also happens that during important political meetings they are given as gifts" says Jaroszynska-Slodyczka proudly.
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