Page 29 - February1999

February 1999 N,\TnON.AI BUT]|ON B{Jn n ETIN 27

A Full and Comprehensive Account From our Last Dealer/Importer
Kathryn (Kathy) Donnerbeck of Washington
"My husband, Peter and I own Beads & Beyond, Inc. It is a large, full
service bead and button store in Bellelue, Washington. We have had the store
for almost five years and I had a studio that sold beads and buttons for four
years prior to opening the retail store. I have been working with glass beads and
buttons from the Czech Republic and Germany for close to l0 years.
"Initially I sold vintage glass beads and buttons, but the vintage glass beads
are getting harder to find. we have always sold glass buttons but the selection
was very limited for the first 7 years as very few people were exporting the
buttons. My first trip to the Czech Republic was in 1994. I went in search of
glass beads and buttons for our store and to begin working on the possibility of
leading tours to the glass centers. We have now been to Germany and the Czech
Republic nine times and have established many good working relationships with
the people pressing beads and buttons. We will be leading our third and fourth
tours to this region in 1999.
"To answer your questions about who, what, where, when, how...etc.
"We know that glass buttons were produced in Germany for only a short
time. This was due to labor constraints, the introduction of household washing
machines, and the increased growth of plastic buttons that were cheaper to
produce and use. The glass button makers were of German descent but many of
them had been living in Czechoslovakia until they were expelled at the end of
WWII. Germany currently has one group of people trying to revitalize glass
buttons. Their plan was to again begin press molding new buttons in old styles. I
have not heard anymore about this and doubt that they have begun production in
any sort of quantify. I met the people when they were still in the planning stages.
"Glass button production in Czechoslovakia has never ceased. The majoriry
of the buttons were produced in cottage industry settings as "home workers"
have small pressing and finishing workshops in their homes. In the mid 1950's,
the communists realized that they would not be able to control the people if they
continued to work in their homes. The workers were pulled into factory settings.
During the cold war years the factories producing buttons sent all of their
buttons to the eastem block Soviet countries.
"Today there are four companies still producing glass buttons for
worldwide distribution. Two are factories and two are cottage based businesses.
One of the factories is dedicated to buttons and the other factory produced
beads, jewelry and other glass objects in addition to glass buttons. It is unknown
what type of volume is produced because we are always told what the capacity
could be! A large part ofthe production is still sent east to Russia.
"From our experiences dealing with the various button companies, we see
the industry to be one that is in constant crisis. The factories have a large
overhead with facilities, personnel and utility costs subjected to inflation. They
are hungry for orders but when orders come they are not able to produce the
product in any sort of regular timely fashion. Yes, buttons are still being