Royal Brierley

Royal Brierley

Royal Brierley’s history stretches back to 1776 when Robert Honeybourne built his glass factory at Briar Lee Hill. Run as an independent family business the history of Royal Brierley spans 300 years and 15 generations. In 1847 the company was called Stevens and Williams and it introduced a number of new decorating techniques including copper wheel engraving and by 1890 they were using intaglio. In 1919 Stevens and Williams were awarded a Royal Warrant by King George V and by 1925 they had changed the company name to Royal Brierley to reflect their new status as glass makers to the King. Royal Warrants have been awarded to Royal Brierley by every Monarch since George the V with a second warrant being granted by Diana The Princess of Wales in 1985. Royal Brierley is the only glass manufacturer to hold two Royal Warrants which is testament to the quality of the glassware produced by the company. Now owned by the Dartington Group, Royal Brierley continues to produce elegant cut crystal glassware today and is reputed to be one of the oldest companies in continuous production. Royal Brierley Avignon Is a tall elegant range with long flute cuts which rise from the base of the glass making it a tactile collection which fits comfortably in the hand. Royal Brierley Antibes has a tight diamond cut from the base to half way up the glass. The glass has a slightly flared shape which is also reflected in the Antibes accessories such as the bowls, Jug and Ice Bucket. Biarritz offers a more contemporary take on traditional cut crystal. With its unique cut of vertical flutes and horizontal hand cuts Royal Brierley Biarritz is a strong, slightly masculine design which suits entertaining whether formal or casual. The Royal Brierley Deauville Collection offers another modern interpretation of cut crystal. Each glass is decorated with either two or three hand cut olive shaped lens cuts, the design is simple and unfussy and offers a collection which is on trend with the fashion for minimalist urban living while still offering the luxury of hand cut crystal. In contrast to Royal Brierley’s contemporary designs of Biarritz and Deauville, Tall Braemar and Tall Bruce offers a more traditional design, Tall Breamar incorporates large fan cuts into a hand cut diamond grid, while Tall Bruce sees the fan cut stand proud above the grid. Royal Brierley also offers two floral designs Honeysuckle and Fuchsia. Each design has a delicate representation of the flower created by bright polished hand cutting with elements of frosted glass to give each design detail and clarity. Royal Brierley’s master engraver Nick Davey has produced two collections of hand engraved Tumblers and Decanters. These extremely detailed designs are achieved with diamond point engraving and each piece is signed by the artist. Introduced in 2016 is the Royal Brierley Harris Collection. Available in clear or ink blue glass Harris incorporates an elongated diamond grid and is Royal Brierley’s first introduction of coloured crystal. In 2017 the Harris suite was extended to include stemware. Available in both Clear and Ink Blue, the collection now includes two sizes of wine glass, champagne Flute and a useful 1.5 litre Jug The jugs introduced in 2016 have been a great success and in 2017 new jugs have been added to the Avignon, Antibes, Biarritz and Deauville ranges. There have also been two new collections unveiled in 2017 both named after Scotish Islands. Kilda and Barra offer something new for the Brierley collector. Both have a contemporary feel with Barra offering an eclectic mix of tumblers and Kilda a sophisticated tumbler and decanter collection. All Royal Brierley Collections are available at Kings and Queens with a 20% discount on Manufacturers Retail Price.