Waterford sparkles in dawn of new era

WATERFORD Crystal champagne flutes sparkled in the sunshine yesterday as hundreds gathered in Waterford city to celebrate a new dawn for the city’s best-known export.

International buyers, senior representatives from the US equity firm that bought out the brand and local dignitaries mingled with some of the brand’s best known celebrity designers, including John Rocha and Michael Aram. Jasper Conran even made an appearance at the reception at Waterford City Hall on Monday.

Everyone was beaming as Michael Psaro said that the future of Waterford Crystal was “extraordinarily bright” and that WWRD would “take it to a level never seen before”.

After the dark, dark days of January 2009 it was a glimmer of hope for a people that had seen their best known employer, once providing jobs to 3,000 people in Dungarvan and Kilbarry, exit the city, leaving 480 former workers bereft of full pension entitlements.

Yesterday, brass bands played on the concourse outside the shiny new building on the edge of Waterford’s Viking Triangle and serving staff careered through the crowd carrying trays piled high with wine, champagne and canapés. Across the street, crowds of middle-aged men, many likely to be former employees of Waterford Wegwood, stood with young mothers and watched the ceremonies unfold.

In the Visitors’ Centre, all the brand’s best known collections, including the Lismore collection, the more contemporary Filo Collection and John Rocha’s black crystal collection, all sparkled. Chandeliers, including the €7,695 12-arm Ardmore chandelier shone down on the crowds, reminding us why Waterford is one of the true luxury brands.

It was then to the new multimedia Visitors’ Centre, where to a thumping dance beat we learned of the crystal’s humble 1783 origins, its journey into the most fashionable dining rooms of the world and to Times Square where its legendary New Year’s Crystal Ball hangs on December 31 each year.

John Rocha couldn’t hide his joy at seeing this bastion of Irish craftmanship being resurrected.

“I am so honoured to be associated with Waterford Crystal. I always have been and I’m terribly excited about today. This is a great day for the city and a great day for the country. There is much that we can learn as a country from today: we have been strong in the past and we can move on and be strong in the future,” he said.