Tomasz Gondek

Tomasz Gondek was born on February 12, 1967 in Cieplice Śląskie - Zdrój, Poland near his current home town of Szklarska Poręba where he works in the historical Josephinenhütte Factory known today as the Julia Crystal Factory. He was exposed to glass at a young age by his father Bronislaw Gondek, who was himself an accomplished glass master. After primary school Tomasz sought to pursue his love and expand his knowledge of glass at a school of arts and craft. After he began working at Julia Crystal Glassworks he found inspiration in the factory's discarded scraps of glass dating back to the factory's founding of 1842. In these historic landfills he found pieces of the factory's rich history discovering bits of latticinio and millefiori glass. For over five years Tomasz studied these old (forgotten) techniques and by 2007 he became the only person in Poland who had successfully rediscovered the method and techniques required to reproduce millefiori. The fruits of his labor and the works he created from his years of  study were celebrated on display at the Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra. Today, Tomasz continues to work for Julia Crystal Glassworks and independently produces paperweights under his own name.