Ornate exports
Katherine Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Streisand, Bruce Springsteen and Demi Moore all favor one brand of hand-made glass ornaments for their trees: Poland's Radko. Yet it's almost impossible to buy these fashionable ornaments in Poland.
"It's kind of ironic, I agree," said Glenn Lewis, co-president of Slavic Treasures, an ornament manufacturer based in Nowa Huta near Krakow.
It's also a matter of price and taste. Within Poland, the simple round ornaments called bombki (tiny bombs) are much more popular - and affordable. These retail for a few zloty apiece, compared to $40 on average for the up-market brands exported to the U.S. - Radko (made in workshops near Krakow, Leszno and Wroclaw), Slavic Treasures, Patricia Breen, Kurt Adler and others.
These high-end, collectible glass ornaments comprise a market worth $50 million-$70 million a year, with 60-65% of that produced in Poland, industry members said. Other significant producing countries are Germany and Italy. But nearly all of the high-end ornaments produced in Europe are exported, mainly to the United States.
Poland has become the center of high-end ornament making thanks to its rich tradition of glass blowing and handicrafts, Lewis said, as well as low labor costs compared to Germany. "The cost of a high-quality ornament made in Germany is 150-200% more than the cost of the same ornament made in Poland," Lewis said.
But just as some of the business migrated to Poland looking for lower labor costs than in Germany, Lewis sees some migration now to Romania for the same reason. For the moment, this involves only the low end - a "box of six for a dollar" - of the ornament market, Lewis said. Production for this market segment has rapidly shifted in recent years from Europe to China, Lewis said.
"Three years ago at the annual Atlanta giftwares trade show (where ornaments for the following Christmas are shown off to retailers and distributors) there was nothing from China. Two years ago, I saw one piece. Last year, you couldn't turn around without seeing more Chinese ornaments. It happened that fast," Lewis said.
But it is not just a question of costs.
"On the high end of the market, among collectors, the words 'Made in Poland' imply quality," Lewis said. One of the most popular collectible brands is even called Polonaise.
"Americans have a special taste for these ornaments. They love them," said Maria Smolak, the only licensed seller of Radko ornaments in Poland. "These ornaments are too expensive for most Poles."
Retailing for $30-$100 apiece in the United States, the ornaments are not cheap for Americans either. But at three to 10 times the price of non-collectible ornaments, these are clearly not the plastic and wood ornaments most people remember from youth.
"I prefer to call them 'painted glass sculptures,'" said Lewis. "Calling them 'ornaments' does them a disservice."
Each piece takes a week to make. First aluminum molds are made according to an artist's design. Then a mixture of molten glass is prepared and laboriously "mouth blown" by master glass makers into the desired shapes. After hardening, they are given an undercoat of silvery paint, then hand-painted. The brightly colored, translucent paints that are used give the ornaments a unique glow when hung on the Christmas tree, Lewis said.
Boom market
Despite the high prices, over the last five or six years the ornaments have surged in popularity in the United States.
"There's been an explosion in the market for blown glass ornaments from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland," said Mark Charlesworth, manager of Mangel's Gifts, in Long Grove, Illinois. "Eight years ago I bought $2,000 worth (wholesale), this year, $60,000."
Most industry insiders, even his competitors, give Radko the credit for starting this boom in the early 1990s. "For a long time (before Radko) it was hard to find quality Christmas ornaments," said Charlesworth. By the 1980s, the Christmas ornament market was almost completely restricted to cheap plastic ornaments. "Also, Radko is a master of marketing and public relations," he added.
Christopher Radko is a 35-year-old entrepreneur and the chief executive of New York-based Radstar Inc., which markets the ornaments under Radko's name. At this time of the year, he is on the road doing signings of his company's ornaments for collectors. Radko, who could not be reached for comment for this article, rarely gives interviews, according to Maria Smolak, his authorized agent in Poland.
The high-end ornaments are marketed in the United States through appeals to nostalgia, tradition and supposed "old world" charm, Charlesworth said. "Baby boomers love them because they remind them of the ornaments their grandmother used to have on the tree," he added.
Advertisements tout the fact that the ornaments are "Made in Poland," or "hand-crafted by Polish artisans," putting them next to vodka and crystal on a short-list of products that can hope to sell more by promoting this fact.
But in Poland, these "traditional, old fashioned" ornaments are viewed as nothing but yet another American fad.
"Poles prefer the traditional bombki," said Ellbieta Burnetka, spokesperson for Northstar, an ornament manufacturer producing for Radko. "Children, however, like these new ornaments, because they are magical."
Whatever their aesthetic or nostalgic appeal, some good old-fashioned greed is clearly also at work. Prices in the secondary collectible market for some pieces can reach hundreds of dollars. There are about 100,000-150,000 avid collectors in the United States, Lewis said. Prices for especially rare or desired pieces, such as Radko's 1993 "Partridge in a Pear Tree" ornament, have risen to $600-$1,000, according to Peggy Veltri, executive director of the Collectors Information Bureau in Barrington, Illinois.
Branching out
In the wake of Radko's success, many other companies moved into the market, including Slavic Treasures.
Lewis, the firm's founder and main creative force, came to Poland in 1993 as an architect to work on the renovation and expansion of the Balice airport outside Krakow.
"We got into ornaments as a side project, originally, to make some extra money to travel on," Lewis said. At first this meant producing ornaments designed by other companies. But 1998 marks the first year that Slavic Treasures is producing and marketing ornaments under its own name, with three ornament-making facilities in Nowa Huta, lodz and Niedzwiedz, employing 280 people.
Slavic Treasures is unusual in the up-market ornament business because it has its own production facilities and has an administrative presence in Poland. Most of the other big players simply contract out to Polish factories from their United States offices. Despite being thus a bit more Polish than the others, it still exports about 98% of its stock to the United States, with the rest going to England and Scandinavia, Lewis said.
Lewis said that while glass happens to be the "hot material" of the moment in ornament design, eventually the pendulum will swing to some new fashion. But, he added, "this market's 'legs' are in the collectible, quality glass ornaments; that's what will stand the test of time and that's where Slavic Treasures is going to stay."
Although he would not detail his company's finances, Lewis said that Slavic Treasures already has preliminary sales for 1999 greater than total sales for 1998. He predicted that the company will have to stop taking orders by March 1999 for Christmas 1999.
With an eye on the U.S. market, Lewis has come up with some ornament designs which by Polish standards are decidedly non-traditional.
"I'm from the South, so I knew football was going to be a good idea," Lewis said. His firm has exclusive licenses with over 100 United States universities to make glass ornaments in the shapes of college football team mascots. Lewis is confident enough about this product to call it his "insurance policy," as it is a gift idea that can be sold year-round.
But it has left some of his Polish ornament makers bemused. "I gave them a drawing of the UNC Ram, you know, really fierce-looking," Lewis said, referring to the football team mascot of the University of North Carolina. "They brought back the prototype and it had a smile on its face. I asked them what did they think they were doing, and they told me they thought my version was too scary-looking for Christmas."
Slavic Treasures also makes more traditional Christmas-themed ornaments, such as Santa Claus, reindeer and snowmen. But for all the ornaments' old world charm, you'll be hard-pressed to actually buy them in the Old World.
Radko is one of the only brands that is sold in Poland, but only in very small quantities in two locations: Maria Smolak's small gallery on Krakow's market square and in the gift shop of the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel & Towers. Slavic Treasures is also planning to start "experimenting" with domestic sales, Lewis said.
"We sell them mostly to Americans," said Magda Godziejewska, an attendant in the Sheraton's gift shop. "They come here looking for them."
As well they would: The ornaments retail at the Sheraton for about zl. 75 each, which is half to a fifth the price of similar ornaments' equivalent dollar retail price in the United States.
The American buyers may be pleased to be taking a piece of "old world" charm home to hang on their trees, but Old World residents think just the opposite.
"For me, these are typically American ornaments," Godzie-jewska said. "Polish ornaments are more modest and simple. Polish trees don't have so many ornaments. These are very beautiful, shiny, colored. Polish ornaments are beautiful too, but more ... simple."
"Of course everything is changing now," said Godziejewska, "and Poles who have money are interested in these, too, to be more American."
And what kind of ornaments does Godziejewska have on her tree?
"The Americans always ask me that," laughed Godziejewska. "I always say 'Yes, yes, just like this, they are very Polish, very traditional.'"
"It's kind of ironic, I agree," said Glenn Lewis, co-president of Slavic Treasures, an ornament manufacturer based in Nowa Huta near Krakow.
It's also a matter of price and taste. Within Poland, the simple round ornaments called bombki (tiny bombs) are much more popular - and affordable. These retail for a few zloty apiece, compared to $40 on average for the up-market brands exported to the U.S. - Radko (made in workshops near Krakow, Leszno and Wroclaw), Slavic Treasures, Patricia Breen, Kurt Adler and others.
These high-end, collectible glass ornaments comprise a market worth $50 million-$70 million a year, with 60-65% of that produced in Poland, industry members said. Other significant producing countries are Germany and Italy. But nearly all of the high-end ornaments produced in Europe are exported, mainly to the United States.
Poland has become the center of high-end ornament making thanks to its rich tradition of glass blowing and handicrafts, Lewis said, as well as low labor costs compared to Germany. "The cost of a high-quality ornament made in Germany is 150-200% more than the cost of the same ornament made in Poland," Lewis said.
But just as some of the business migrated to Poland looking for lower labor costs than in Germany, Lewis sees some migration now to Romania for the same reason. For the moment, this involves only the low end - a "box of six for a dollar" - of the ornament market, Lewis said. Production for this market segment has rapidly shifted in recent years from Europe to China, Lewis said.
"Three years ago at the annual Atlanta giftwares trade show (where ornaments for the following Christmas are shown off to retailers and distributors) there was nothing from China. Two years ago, I saw one piece. Last year, you couldn't turn around without seeing more Chinese ornaments. It happened that fast," Lewis said.
But it is not just a question of costs.
"On the high end of the market, among collectors, the words 'Made in Poland' imply quality," Lewis said. One of the most popular collectible brands is even called Polonaise.
"Americans have a special taste for these ornaments. They love them," said Maria Smolak, the only licensed seller of Radko ornaments in Poland. "These ornaments are too expensive for most Poles."
Retailing for $30-$100 apiece in the United States, the ornaments are not cheap for Americans either. But at three to 10 times the price of non-collectible ornaments, these are clearly not the plastic and wood ornaments most people remember from youth.
"I prefer to call them 'painted glass sculptures,'" said Lewis. "Calling them 'ornaments' does them a disservice."
Each piece takes a week to make. First aluminum molds are made according to an artist's design. Then a mixture of molten glass is prepared and laboriously "mouth blown" by master glass makers into the desired shapes. After hardening, they are given an undercoat of silvery paint, then hand-painted. The brightly colored, translucent paints that are used give the ornaments a unique glow when hung on the Christmas tree, Lewis said.
Boom market
Despite the high prices, over the last five or six years the ornaments have surged in popularity in the United States.
"There's been an explosion in the market for blown glass ornaments from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland," said Mark Charlesworth, manager of Mangel's Gifts, in Long Grove, Illinois. "Eight years ago I bought $2,000 worth (wholesale), this year, $60,000."
Most industry insiders, even his competitors, give Radko the credit for starting this boom in the early 1990s. "For a long time (before Radko) it was hard to find quality Christmas ornaments," said Charlesworth. By the 1980s, the Christmas ornament market was almost completely restricted to cheap plastic ornaments. "Also, Radko is a master of marketing and public relations," he added.
Christopher Radko is a 35-year-old entrepreneur and the chief executive of New York-based Radstar Inc., which markets the ornaments under Radko's name. At this time of the year, he is on the road doing signings of his company's ornaments for collectors. Radko, who could not be reached for comment for this article, rarely gives interviews, according to Maria Smolak, his authorized agent in Poland.
The high-end ornaments are marketed in the United States through appeals to nostalgia, tradition and supposed "old world" charm, Charlesworth said. "Baby boomers love them because they remind them of the ornaments their grandmother used to have on the tree," he added.
Advertisements tout the fact that the ornaments are "Made in Poland," or "hand-crafted by Polish artisans," putting them next to vodka and crystal on a short-list of products that can hope to sell more by promoting this fact.
But in Poland, these "traditional, old fashioned" ornaments are viewed as nothing but yet another American fad.
"Poles prefer the traditional bombki," said Ellbieta Burnetka, spokesperson for Northstar, an ornament manufacturer producing for Radko. "Children, however, like these new ornaments, because they are magical."
Whatever their aesthetic or nostalgic appeal, some good old-fashioned greed is clearly also at work. Prices in the secondary collectible market for some pieces can reach hundreds of dollars. There are about 100,000-150,000 avid collectors in the United States, Lewis said. Prices for especially rare or desired pieces, such as Radko's 1993 "Partridge in a Pear Tree" ornament, have risen to $600-$1,000, according to Peggy Veltri, executive director of the Collectors Information Bureau in Barrington, Illinois.
Branching out
In the wake of Radko's success, many other companies moved into the market, including Slavic Treasures.
Lewis, the firm's founder and main creative force, came to Poland in 1993 as an architect to work on the renovation and expansion of the Balice airport outside Krakow.
"We got into ornaments as a side project, originally, to make some extra money to travel on," Lewis said. At first this meant producing ornaments designed by other companies. But 1998 marks the first year that Slavic Treasures is producing and marketing ornaments under its own name, with three ornament-making facilities in Nowa Huta, lodz and Niedzwiedz, employing 280 people.
Slavic Treasures is unusual in the up-market ornament business because it has its own production facilities and has an administrative presence in Poland. Most of the other big players simply contract out to Polish factories from their United States offices. Despite being thus a bit more Polish than the others, it still exports about 98% of its stock to the United States, with the rest going to England and Scandinavia, Lewis said.
Lewis said that while glass happens to be the "hot material" of the moment in ornament design, eventually the pendulum will swing to some new fashion. But, he added, "this market's 'legs' are in the collectible, quality glass ornaments; that's what will stand the test of time and that's where Slavic Treasures is going to stay."
Although he would not detail his company's finances, Lewis said that Slavic Treasures already has preliminary sales for 1999 greater than total sales for 1998. He predicted that the company will have to stop taking orders by March 1999 for Christmas 1999.
With an eye on the U.S. market, Lewis has come up with some ornament designs which by Polish standards are decidedly non-traditional.
"I'm from the South, so I knew football was going to be a good idea," Lewis said. His firm has exclusive licenses with over 100 United States universities to make glass ornaments in the shapes of college football team mascots. Lewis is confident enough about this product to call it his "insurance policy," as it is a gift idea that can be sold year-round.
But it has left some of his Polish ornament makers bemused. "I gave them a drawing of the UNC Ram, you know, really fierce-looking," Lewis said, referring to the football team mascot of the University of North Carolina. "They brought back the prototype and it had a smile on its face. I asked them what did they think they were doing, and they told me they thought my version was too scary-looking for Christmas."
Slavic Treasures also makes more traditional Christmas-themed ornaments, such as Santa Claus, reindeer and snowmen. But for all the ornaments' old world charm, you'll be hard-pressed to actually buy them in the Old World.
Radko is one of the only brands that is sold in Poland, but only in very small quantities in two locations: Maria Smolak's small gallery on Krakow's market square and in the gift shop of the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel & Towers. Slavic Treasures is also planning to start "experimenting" with domestic sales, Lewis said.
"We sell them mostly to Americans," said Magda Godziejewska, an attendant in the Sheraton's gift shop. "They come here looking for them."
As well they would: The ornaments retail at the Sheraton for about zl. 75 each, which is half to a fifth the price of similar ornaments' equivalent dollar retail price in the United States.
The American buyers may be pleased to be taking a piece of "old world" charm home to hang on their trees, but Old World residents think just the opposite.
"For me, these are typically American ornaments," Godzie-jewska said. "Polish ornaments are more modest and simple. Polish trees don't have so many ornaments. These are very beautiful, shiny, colored. Polish ornaments are beautiful too, but more ... simple."
"Of course everything is changing now," said Godziejewska, "and Poles who have money are interested in these, too, to be more American."
And what kind of ornaments does Godziejewska have on her tree?
"The Americans always ask me that," laughed Godziejewska. "I always say 'Yes, yes, just like this, they are very Polish, very traditional.'"
