Glassworks

Here, in Stare Hute (originally Althütten), we continue the history dating back to the beginning of the 17th century, when the glassworks founded the village. However, the glassworks saw its most significant growth at the start of the 19th century with the arrival of Izaak Reich, who laid the foundations for the future glass empire of the Reich family. As the capacity of the original glassworks was soon insufficient, the family gradually began to operate up to thirteen glassworks across the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire. Their customers came from all over Europe to buy their goods and exported their glass products overseas. The family business passed on its know-how from generation to generation until the 1920s, when the economic crisis severely threatened the operation of the glass empire. However, it was the subsequent Holocaust that proved fatal for the Jewish family.

Another hundred years have passed, and we are once again melting the glass furnace in the place where the story began. Our new glasswork is located near the original one, but there is almost nothing left of it but an old Linden tree that was once planted in the yard of the family glassworks. The shape of its leaves inspired the first collection of Linden glasses, and it is inscribed in each of them.

Our glassworks is located in beautiful countryside and was built to operate sustainably for decades to come. Its operation has been designed to be as ecologically friendly as possible, and so the residual heat is further used for the operation of the hotel and orangery, making almost complete use of the remaining thermal energy.

Today, Izaak Reich is an independent, environmentally friendly, and sustainable glassworks that, with respect and reverence for its history, ambitions to build on the tremendous tradition established by the Reich family and return the craft of glassmaking to where it has always belonged.