1. What is Liuli?

Liuli is a Chinese title.It is similar with cast glass，crystal sculpture, pate de verre.

Liuli consists strictly of man-made crystal, utilizing a special de-waxing casting technique where the crystal glass components are heated to nearly 1000 degrees Celsius, thus becoming a liquid. This liquid flows into a plaster mold.

The process is called de-wax casting because the molds are made by encasing wax sculptures in plaster and then melting away the wax. The result is crystal clear products with fine shapes and magical color formations – each having it’s own unique characteristics.

2. Liuli History:

De-wax casting originated from ancient China or Egypt. The technique failed to be handed down because of its high complexity. Henry Cros rediscovered the recipe and devoted his life to researching the method and eventually making it work. His 1886 work (as shown in the picture) is in the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.

Henry Cros named this type of artwork "pate de verre" because the piece is semi-transparent. "Pate de verre" means "glass pastry", which is today's Liuli. This name has lasted until now, and English has adopted the same name from its French origin. "Pate de verre" has since attracted many more artists to work in the field. Daum Inc., established in 1878, has been making "pate de verre" for the last 100 plus years and is the oldest company in the field. There are now hundreds of artists in Europe and North America, such as Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova.