Embossed into Metal – From fashion jewellery to war decorations

Our museum is proud to present a unique view of the history of traditional artefacts from our region. The EMBOSSED INTO METAL exhibition maps out the fascinating development of embossed and pressed products in Jablonec, including fashion jewellery, medals, plaques, badges, and much more.

 Embossing and pressing plants have always been an integral part of the Jablonec area. The products created by these specific workshops on display at the exhibition are taken both from the collections of the Museum of Glass and Jewellery and from other public institutions, and indeed several private collections: production equipment and tools, semi-finished and finished products, and that's not all - the largest range of World War II badges, medals and decorations from Jablonec producers will be on display here for the first time. Come and see original presses, metal-engraving tools, cases for military ID cards from the First World War, the process of producing medals, and photographs of the largest press in Austria-Hungary. Visitors can learn about the products made by local pre-war companies Franz Mänert, Gebrüder Jäger, Josef Feix Söhne, Josef Scheibler, Heinrich Brditschka, and many others, look back at the work done by the Bižuterie and Silka enterprises, or the Nisasport, Javoz, and Maják cooperatives, and take a look at the contemporary products created by embossing and pressing workshops in the region.

 One other aim of the EMBOSSED INTO METAL exhibition is to present the work done by certain Jablonec craftsmen of immense importance; namely girdlers and metal engravers. Curator Kateřina Nora Nováková based her preparation work on extensive museum collections, archival materials, printed company materials, and eyewitness testimonies. "Working through such a far-reaching subject-matter required some fairly demanding research work, one element here being to map out the shops and historical machinery still in existence," she says. However, the project also focuses on the specifics of the region, in that, over time, orders placed by the original German founders, socialist enterprises, cooperatives, and contemporary private companies were all carried out at the individual production plants. "The exhibition shows quite clearly that embossed and pressed metal products from Jablonec have far deeper roots and greater overlap. These products were and remain an integral part of our cultural history," stresses Director of the Museum Milada Valečková.

 The setting of the exhibition takes visitors into the environment of the workshop, where they can sit at a metal-engraving table from the Jablonec School of Applied Arts that is at least a hundred years old. "They can try the work of a metal engraver or the work of a presser on an old pre-war press and take home a unique stamp bearing the motif of the exhibition," says set designer for the exhibition Miroslav Janda, himself a qualified metal engraver. The tour is accompanied by a quiz, with anyone who correctly answers all the questions receiving a token designed by student of the local Secondary School and College of Applied Arts Katka Novotná and stamped by Jablonec company Lucid.

 The EMBOSSED INTO METAL exhibition will run at the museum until April 2026. A publication of the same name has also been produced, and a professional conference will be held on 3 November; those interested can register on the museum website until the end of October.

Video from the opening of the exhibition here