Glass -
Man versus Machine

Glass Production in Zwiesel

....In summer, the temperature near the furnace can reach 60 or 70 degrees. The kölbel maker uses a glassmaker's pipe to take a lump of red-hot mass from the harbour furnace and hands it to the blower, who gently blows it into a ball. He then places it in a wooden mould which is constantly sprinkled with water. The steam created by the heat forms a thin cushion between the wood and the glass. As the blower turns the piece in the mould, the surface becomes perfectly smooth. The mass is as viscous as honey," says Ralf Günter, "such a lump is difficult to tame....

...The contrast between the highly concentrated silence in which the three glassmakers perform their choreography and the machine hall at Kristallglas Zwiesel could hardly be greater. Christian Steinkl, 38, head of industrial production, is proud of his infernal machines, oily, blackish monsters that provide the soundtrack for the devil's techno party. He smiles with satisfaction. We are at the 'hot end' of production. Don't touch anything,' he yells above the noise, 'even when the glass looks finished and is on the conveyor belts to the next machin it is still brutally hot.

Glowing glass drips like honey from the nozzles of a ring conveyor machine and is collected in moulds. Wine glasses make a fiery, glowing circle on another machine....