Station: [9] B – Bohemain Glass: Diamanté Tiara

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This diamante tiara created for the glittering world of Paris in the 1950s and 60s weighs two kilograms. It took several weeks to produce because the up to 500 diamante stones were set one by one into special clasps on the frame. So it’s hard to believe that a costumed lady of the Parisian review Theatres; the Folie Bergères and Moulin Rouge was still able to dance across the stage with an almost erotic and gracious ease when wearing one. The diamante tiara has been providing a taste of past Parisian glamour in the Wertheim museum of glass since 1998.

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And it does so with thanks to Reinhard Seufert, a collector from Stuttgart who took part in the production of the shimmering tiaras for years. At the time Seufert was the first German fashion photographer to work for the German „Elegante Welt,“ lifestyle magazine that was founded in Berlin in 1910. He found his models in the fashion metropolis of Paris and was so fascinated by the glamorous world of show business, that he got involved in the production of the glittering diamante jewellery.

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The glass stones, that shimmer in all the colours of the rainbow, came from the Swarovski Company, that is now located in Wattens in Austrian Tyrol. The company is famous for its perfectly cut, “artificial crystals,” made of flawless glass. Daniel Swarovski, the company founder, came from Bohemia. And he invented the revolutionary electric cutting machine in 1892, which enabled him to cut a larger amount of crystals with much greater precision than was possible by hand.