From Santa Claus to
reindeer, trees to baubles, there are many traditions we have associated with
Christmas. One of the most heart-warming
and varied is the snow globe, that tiny world within a globe that instantly has
a perfect snow covering with just the shake of a hand. Yet compared to other traditions, the snow
globe is a relative newcomer to the Christmas list.
History of the snow globe
The man credited
with coming up with the idea of a snow globe was an Austrian man named Erwin
Perzy. Back in 1900 he lived in Vienna
and came up with the concept with production starting five years later. His company was called the Original Vienna
Snow Globes and over a century later, the company still produces snow globes and
is run by the grandson of the man, also called Erwin.
The idea for the
snow globe came about in a total unexpected way – Perzy was trying to improve
the brightness of the newly invented light bulb. Looking to shoemakers of the time, who used a
candle mounted inside a glass globe and got more light that way, his idea was
to make a light bulb in the same way. Unfortunately
the idea wasn’t successful but he took his globe and one day added some
semolina powder into it. When he turned
it around, the movement of the powder reminded him of snow falling.
After this, a
miniature scene was added and for the first four decades of production, these
were always including a tiny church. After
the Second World War, Perzy II took over production and widened the range. Along came Christmas trees, Father Christmas and
snowmen inside the tiny globes. He also
created a new material for their artificial snow – a family secret to this day!
Modern globes
Erwin Perzy III has
been running his company since the 1980s and produces some 200,000 snow globes
a year – though it only employs 30 people and half of these work from their own
homes. These snow globes are still made
from glass as was the original design back in the 1900s and has produced globes
for some of the most notable figures in the world, most recently for the
children of US President Barack Obama. Other
famous snow globes that the company have made include the one used (and
smashed) at the beginning of the film Citizen Kane in 1941.
Currently, the
company produce around 350 designs with around 20% of their orders being made
up from customised designs that people order specifically. There are even four different sized globes
and the factory has a museum within it that allows kids to visit and see the
history of one of their Christmas favourites.
Christmas Present
The world quickly
grabbed the idea of the snow globe and many more companies now produce
variations. As well as the Christmas traditional
scenes and trees, there are also now many modern versions including fairies and
teddy bears, often with the facility to have personalised messages added to
them. All have that magical floating
snow effect that Mr Perzy would recognise over 100 years since he first came up
with the idea.
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