Page 30 - February1999

28 NATXCNAL BUTTON Burr,tr,ETnN February 1999

produced but sometimes we wait for 6 months for our orders. I am hesitant to
state that I think the industry is dying as it has in Germany because we are one
of the few supporters of the industry now. I think that glass buttons may soon
be a thin&of the pAst as the Czech Republic moves more into a world economy.
The production of glass buttons is very labor intensive. Each button is manually
handled up to l5 times. The younger labor force is not interested in working in a
field that requires hard, hot, tedious labor with low pay. I think that the smaller
cottage industry companies will have more of a chance to survive than the
factories, as the individuals involved are more interested in preserving an age
old tradition and each has their own small business that helps to make up the
whole.
"We carry approximately 2500 different glass buttons in our Bohemian
Button line in addition to the new buttons we are having made and the vintage
buttons that we sell. This past year, 1998, we found a large stash (7 tons) of old
buttons left from a factory that opened at the turn ofthe century and closed in
1989. It will take us years to clean and sort the buttons! We have found
beautiful and interesting glass beads, buttons and buckles in this 7 tons.
"We work very closely with two of the button companies. We import
buttons from their regular line and work with both to have new molds engraved
for specialty buttons. We will introduce about 12 new buttons styles in 1999
from the molds being made exclusively for us. This is a time consuming
process. From the time that we decide on the new styles, have the molds
engraved, press the buttons and have them hand painted, we wait approximately
five to six months before we can offer them for sale. This long turn around time
also hinders the marketability of the buttons and many companies do not want
to have money tied up for this period of time before they can begin selling their
product.
"We find the people delightful to work withl General business dealings can
be frustrating at times due to language barriers and the length of tin-re it takes to
get the product. We have made commitments to thern to continue importing new
designs. We are working hard to preserue this age-old-tradition but know that
eventually the pressures of modern life will most likely see glass buttons
become a thing of the past.
"You also asked for anecdotes...
"As we have traveled there many times we are always learning more
Czech. Our vocabulary though is very strange. We know lots of words like, cat,
kangaroo, dog, spider. bee, fly, etc. as we are always looking for molds and
buttons that are more in the category of realistics than the general design sorl of
things! The expressions on peoples' faces when we speak in Czech asking for a
kangaroo button is priceless!
"The seven tons of buttons we bought came somewhat as a surprise but not
completely. We heard about a large stash of buttons that someone was trying to
sell, but we first heard about it in the Berlin flea market. Asking all of our button
friends, no one had heard about it...or so they said. It took us two years to locate
it and then it was sort of bv accident. We had been buvins buttons for several