Zuzana Slámová’s grandparents founded the G & B Beads factory that she runs today in the Czech town of Jablonec nad Nisou which has a tradition of glass bead making. There are actually two sites; the first is where they fabricate the beads, a little distance away. In the facility we visited they finish off the beads. It also boasts an art museum on an upper floor and on the first floor a retail store and a little museum with historical machinery.

Slámová ’took us through the building. In one room there were a couple dozen big tumblers that get filled with sand and water and spun to finish the beads. Workers had already left for the day. But not all the barrels are still in use. Production is only one fifth as much as it was at peak due to increasing competition from China. Most of the business is wholesale for export to 34 countries with the biggest demand from Japan, the U.S. and European Union.

Active production was in progress in another room. A couple workers there repeatedly inserted a string of beads into a machine; they applied a lever to bring the beads in contact with a large grinding wheel to create the facets.

Slámová showed us beads designed by her grandmother and of course, we had to buy several strands of the “babička” design. We also bought decades old original "dice" beads designed by babička. New designs come out every year. (Thank you Zuzana!)

See photo album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBydVE