The heart of RITZENHOFF AG still beats where the company’s history began more than 100 years ago – at its headquarters in Marsberg in Germany’s Sauerland region. As far back as the 18th century, wood from the dense local forests was used in the first glassworks to fire the melting furnaces that turned quartz sand into glass.

The family-run company RITZENHOFF has remained true to this tradition, evolving over the years from a glass-making workshop to one of Germany’s best-known high-tech glass factories.

Molten glass – a mixture of quartz sand, soda ash, calcium carbonate, potassium carbonate and potassium nitrate – bubbles away at around 1,500 degrees Celsius, not unlike the primeval soup itself. The liquid glass is portioned into drops (“gobs”) and shaped during the cooling process – blown into goblets, pressed into glass stems, cut by laser, joined and fused together. In just a few minutes, these incandescent liquid drops are transformed into high quality crystal glass.

Innovative methods such as rim processing by laser, or the more traditional “blowing and grinding” as well as integrated quality assurance complete the automatic production procedures.

We are the only glass manufacturers in Europe to provide all the services needed for the development and production of glassware from a single source. Perfect glasses are the visible result of comprehensive quality assurance, which is why we test and inspect our products throughout the entire manufacturing and finishing process.

For many years now, RITZENHOFF AG has defended its position as market leader in the field of stemmed glassware (exclusive models) for the beverage industry, with a market share of well over 50% in Germany. RITZENHOFF BV, Nieuwegein (NL) was founded on 1st January 1999 to handle sales in the Benelux countries. This is further proof of our company’s increasingly strong focus on exports and the desire to secure our future prosperity by minimizing the effects of possible economic fluctuations on the home market.