Glass Craft of Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh

Ferozabad in Uttar Pradesh is synonymous with glass as the entire community is involved with this craft. Traditionally this town produced only glass bangles but presently glass table ware and other sophisticated products are produced. Varanasi is known for its glass beads and a very thin glass from which little pieces locally called tikulis are cut. These adorn the foreheads of women or are used for decorating fabrics, while glass mouthpieces for hukkas and toys containing coloured liquid called panchkora are the specialities of Saharanpur.

Firozabad is well known for its manufacture of glass goods, and is the only place that produces glass bangles (“choori”) and glassware made through the mouth blowing technique. Firozabad’s absolute monopoly on the production of glass bangles has given it the title of  World Glass Bangles Capital, “Suhag Nagri”. Although the product spectrum of Firozabad Glassware is very wide, it can be segregated on the basis of techniques used, glass type and product types. It can be divided into the following four classes on the basis of the technology applied:

Bangles (choori) Craft

Beads Craft

Products manufactured using the mouth blowing technique

Products manufactured with machinery. Soda ash and silica are the main raw materials used for producing glass in which chemicals of known properties are mixed as raw materials for achieving certain features like hardness, refractive index and colour.