RONA a.s. (distribution under RONA brand) is a Slovak drinking glass manufacturer, established in Lednické Rovne, Slovakia, in 1892. The name RONA comes from the former naming of the village ‘‘Lednicz Rone’’. The company manufactures unleaded drinking glasses, known as crystal glass. 96% of production is exported and is available in more than 80 countries worldwide. The yearly production of the company exceeds 60 million pieces (2016). Product segments include households, the gastronomy business, aerospace, and ship catering.
Products of the company can be found at Buckingham Palace and the White House. RONA created also a gift set for the football club Manchester United designed for fan shops in 2006. At the turn of 2008 and 2009, the company created and manufactured sets for fans of FC Barcelona, composed of stemware for champagne, red and white wines and carafes. The glass from Lednické Rovne can be found in the New York Rockefeller center's Rainbow Room, and in luxury hotels in Dubai and Las Vegas. The glass from the RONA company is supplied to airlines including: Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, KLM, and American Airlines. Relief stemware set named Harmony was presented in an American sitcom from the world of young physicists, The Big Bang Theory.
The main manufacturing programs of the glassworks: An automatic manufacturing of the stemware with attached stem, stemware with pulled stem, large accessory pieces such as vases, bowls, carafes and other accessories Handmade stemware, tumblers, vases, bowls, carafes and accessories Glass (hand made and machine made) refinements by various glass decoration techniques (pantograph etching, cutting, painting, engraving, spraying, screen printing, tampoprint, an automatic calibration by laser).
History
Founding
An entrepreneur Jozef Schreiber founded the company in 1892 as the last and the biggest glassworks of Vienna’s company Schreiber und Neffen, who had the most modern equipment of the time. The company in Lednické Rovne is the most successful Slovak glassworks and the only one left (2017).
It started by the manufacturing of flat glass, later pressed glass under Kaiserkristall brand that the company established as the first in Austria-Hungary. This was popular at the turn of the century for price and the fact that it imitated products of luxury cut lead glass. The goods were sold under the name ’’Imperial Crystal’’. Besides the pressed glass was manufactured hand blown glass under RONA Crystal brand focused on drinking glass and sets for hotels, medical institutions, cafes… as well as domestic glass for a household.
Besides clear glass, the glassworks is known for its decoration techniques such as cutting, engraving, guilloche, painting, spraying, screen printing, tampoprint (an automatic calibration by laser), and pantograph technology. The company in Lednické Rovne established pantographs of English production as the first in Europe in 1896. In the 1940s, the company cooperated in the development of decors with professional designers Vincent Hložník and Martin Benka.
Archived collections show products from the beginning that were decorated, full-colour pieces, along with functional designs of clear, plain glass. These lines were developed by patenting of a new handmade technology. Pulled stem, even more in 1956 than currently, is an indicator of glass products from Lednické Rovne.
The history and production of the company was documented by many specialists in their publications; historians and publicists such as Jan Bárta, Ján Mondok, Eduard Toran, Igor Didov, Karol Hetteš, Jindra Bakošová, Agáta Žáčková, Jarmila Račeková and others. Likewise articles in special magazines such as Glasrevue, Sklář a keramik, Sklárske rozhledy, Umení a remesla, Arte Regalo(Spanish magazine), Tableware International, Offrir International, and Casastile (Italian magazine).
Chronology of development and organizational changes
The company over time has transitioned into and out of socialism, emerging in 1990 to become an exporter in 1992.