Westcountry Crystal

About Westcountry Crystal

Westcountry Crystal is a family-run business located in the historic town of Great Torrington, North Devon. Yet the prigins of this glass engraving & decorating company started many miles away in Stourbridge, West Midlands, an area famed for producing fine handmade lead crystal glassware.Robert Britton, completed a five year apprenticeship as a glass-cutter in the 1950s with world renowned Thomas Webb & Sons. Fulfilling his dream to run his own business, for over three decades he owned two crystal glassware companies, firstly Supreme Crystal then Wordsley Crystal. The companies supplied handcut crystal glassware direct to the public through it's own factory shops. In the 1980s the company diversified into hand engraved personalised gifts suitable for the personal shopper to give to family & friends to commemorate special events or to the corporate customer wishing to offer staff & clients high quality trophies & prizes.John Britton joined the family business in 1984 & in 1988, after a few enjoyable holidays to scenic North Devon, set up Westcountry Crystal in the friendly town of Torrington. The affects of the recession in the 90s, saw the crystal glass industry being almost obliterated by the effects of globalisation with most of the glassmaking companies moving their manufacturing & decorating aboard. This, combined with the fact that heavily decorated handcut crystal was slipping out of fashion, resulted in the closure of Wordsley Crystal in 1994. The Britton family decided to focus their efforts on Westcountry Crystal & rather than managing the business from a distance, relocated to Devon.Bod & John still carry on the skilled art of hand cutting crystal, using the 'intaglio' technique. Diamond cutting wheels, are mounted on a lathe. Sitting at the lathe, they present the glass item to the wheel & skilfully make cuts to its surface, resulting in the image of a fuchsia flower & its leaves. This simple, more contemporary pattern is popular with today's customers, of all ages.Sandblasting is the technique used in their personalised glass engraving. Abrasive grit is sprayed through a sandblasting gun on to glass which is masked up by a piece of stencil, in order to produce inscriptions, logos, patterns or pictures.Visitors to the shop in School Lane or on-line customers, can be assured of a friendly, personal service, so rarely found these days, built on a lifetime's experience of supplying high quality, personalised glass gifts to individual & corporate customers. Please do not hesitate to contact Westcountry Crystal, if you would like further information about their products & services.John, Bob & the team look forward to hearing from you soon........