Diatkovo Crystal Factory

a large producer of high-quality (dinner) glassware and articles made of crystal; one of the oldest enterprises of the domestic glass industry. It is Ideated in the city of Diat’kovo, Briansk Oblast, RSFSR, and was founded in 1790 by I. Mal’tsov.

The factory’s major output was crystal of high artistic value with fine (“Mal’tsov”) diamond facets created by master cutters; articles with color variations were also made. Diat’kovo glassware was very famous. It was intended for peasant use, which defined the form and decoration of these articles; the painting was predominantly bright with decorative flower designs. At the first public exhibition of Russian manufactured articles in St. Petersburg (1829) the Diat’kovo crystal was awarded a gold medal. The working conditions at the factory were extremely hard. From 1905 to 1914 large-scale political strikes took place. With the coming of Soviet power the factory was gradually expanded and modernized. During the Great Patriotic War the factory was completely demolished by the fascist German aggressors. After the expulsion of the invaders (September 1943), reconstruction occurred simultaneously with the mechanization of the production of molded mass articles, the installation of glass-processing machines of the newest construction, and the introduction of a chemical method of polishing crystal glass and other articles. E. S. Shuvalov, M. V. Grabar’, and other artists created new shapes for vessels and introduced a variety of techniques for processing and decorating crystal (deep staining, engraving) and glass articles (for example, embossed ornamentation used by the artist V. Ia. Shevchenko for decoration of glass articles made of sulfide zinc). At the World’s Fair in Brussels in 1958, the factory was awarded a bronze medal, and at the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR it received a second-class diploma in 1960 and a first-class diploma in 1968. The factory was awarded the order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1965.