Exclusive collection! The symbol of the coming year - a handmade dragon - is made by glassblowers from Berezovka

Many believe that the symbol of the coming year - the Dragon - will bring with it many miracles. Thus, the owner of 2024 in the form of souvenirs is made at the glass factory in Berezovka by experienced glassblowers. In one shift, the master creates up to twenty unique figures. Yuri Karnelovich learned all the subtleties of production technology and the secret of the strength of the fragile material.

In a special furnace at a temperature of almost one and a half thousand degrees, ordinary glass turns into a plastic material. In just a few minutes, master glassblower Valery Baginsky will sculpt a figurine of a dragon - a symbol of 2024 - from the viscous mass. Glass is a capricious material, it cools quickly, so you need to work quickly.

“You need to calculate every move ahead, like chess players. And therefore you know in advance what operation you will do, and as quickly as possible,” Valery Baginsky shared the secret of his work.

Glass dragon exclusively handmade

No more than twenty glass figurines are produced per shift. The volumes are large, considering that this is exclusively handmade. Valery Baginsky has been learning all the intricacies of the glassblowing profession for decades. But even this experience does not allow you to tame glass alone. There must be three more equally experienced craftsmen as assistants.

Valery Baginsky, master glassblower of Neman Glass Factory OJSC:

- “Everyone knows his job, his operation. And if everything is done on time, then the product will turn out. If you hesitate, naturally, you have to throw it away.”

Exclusive collection of glass symbols of the new year 2024

The tradition of creating New Year's souvenirs at the glass factory goes back several years. There are figurines made by hand, and there is also mass production, when the same dragons are poured into molds. This technology is no less complex; preparatory work has been going on since spring.

Before glass dragons are sold, the plant’s specialists do a lot of work. First, artists work on the images, then glassblowers join them with their proposals. The result is a symbol of the year.

The chief artist of the glass factory, Sergei Shetik, embodied the image of the little dragon in a three-dimensional figurine. The task was not an easy one - to show the character of the symbol of the new year.

Sergey Shetik, chief artist of Neman Glass Factory OJSC:

“First we make it, we approve the drawing at the artistic council. Then we make it in a soft material, that is, plasticine. We calculate the entire form for the output, make a plaster cast. After that, the most difficult moment for us is making the mold in metal.”

Promising projects - glass factory brand

New Year's glass souvenirs are another stage in the development of the enterprise. New promising projects have already become a brand of the glass factory. The only production of fiberglass building insulation in Belarus is successfully operating here. Export-oriented products are popular both in the CIS countries and in the European Union. Our immediate plans include establishing a line of stamped glassware.

Ekaterina Linkevich, Deputy Director for Economics of Neman Glass Factory OJSC:

- “There is one glass melting furnace for the production of fiberglass and two glass melting furnaces for the production of glass, flint glass and crystal. The assortment list includes more than 3 thousand items. The priority task of our enterprise is to formulate a production program exclusively for the existing portfolio of orders.”

As for holiday products, the company’s artists have begun developing images for 2025. His symbol will be a snake.

Source: https://www.tvr.by/