About Old World Christmas

Old World Christmas has been making hand-painted blown glass ornaments since 1979, working in a tradition that traces back to the German glassblowing town of Lauscha in the nineteenth century.

How the ornaments are made

Each piece starts as molten glass blown by mouth into a carved mould, which is what gives the shapes their detail. The inside is then silvered with a hot liquid solution, and this is what makes the colour look lit from within rather than painted on. After that the outside is hand-painted and hand-glittered. Because a person makes every one, small variations between two ornaments of the same design are normal rather than faults.

What you can buy

There are more than two thousand designs, and the catalogue is organised by subject rather than by colour scheme: animals and birds, food and drink, hobbies and occupations, travel, weddings and new babies, and a run of licensed designs. Alongside the glass there are Ginger Cottages in wood, Gumdrops for small trees, crystal snowflakes, snow globes, lanterns, candles and cards. Ornaments arrive individually boxed, which matters both for gifting and for storage.

Looking after glass ornaments

These are meant to be brought out every year for decades, and they will be if you treat them as glass. Hang them on the inner branches where a passing sleeve cannot catch them, keep the more fragile shapes above the reach of a toddler or a cat, and dust with a soft dry brush rather than a damp cloth, since water will lift hand-painted detail and glitter. Put each one back in its own box at the end of the season rather than into a shared tub, because glass rubbing against glass in a loft is how a collection quietly loses pieces.

Using an Old World Christmas discount code

Enter the code on the cart page before you begin checkout, so the postage estimate is worked out on the reduced total.