History of Vicrila and the txikito wine glass
The ‘Fábrica de Vidrio de Lamiaco’ [Lamiaco Glass Factory] was the first company to set up in Lamiako and the first of its kind in the whole of Spain. Established by a Belgian family in 1890, it produced flat or window glass.
A bit of history
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The first company to establish itself in Lamiako and the first of its kind in the whole country was the so-called ‘Fábrica de Vidrio de Lamiaco’”. Created in 1890 by a Belgian family, it was located in a strategic spot in terms of communications, on land reclaimed from the estuary itself, near the port of Bilbao, next to the Bilbao-Las Arenas road and close to the Bilbao-Las Arenas railway.
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The factory focused on the production of flat or window glass, for which it had a large melting furnace, using the Bassen system, built under the direction of Augusto Devilliers, director of the Charleroy factory, with Emile Gobbe’s patent, fuelled by Siemens gas generators and steam boilers, with a capacity of 300 tonnes. It also had five flattening furnaces, which essentially made glass manufacturing a largely hand-crafted process, as some workers had to perform the arduous task of blowing the gobs of molten glass, which were then spread onto sheets to obtain flat glass.
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On 7 November 1895, “Vidriera Vizcaína” was established and in 1901 the Vidriera merged with the “La Jerezana” bottle factory to create the “Compagnie Générale des Verreries Espagnoles”, with its headquarters in Brussels. A few years later, in 1925, the “Compañía General de Vidrieras Españolas, S.A.” was created, with headquarters in Bilbao, a name it kept until 1971, and the mechanical drawing process known as the Fourcault system was introduced, eliminating the blowing technique.
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The tradition of txikiteo, which became popular at the end of the 19th century, precisely when Vicrila was founded (in 1890) led to the introduction of a glass designed for a ritual in which, above and beyond drinking wine, the most important thing was sharing experiences and singing among friends.
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Those regular wine supply circuits, transported directly from the Alhóndiga warehouse to the taverns, became customary, as did the glass, which was described as a solid, thick, heavy glass with a broad base and a capacity of about a quarter cuartillo (roughly 125 ml). Despite weighing more than 600 grams, helping keep the drinker’s hand steady, according to some, and holding just 12 centilitres, txikiteros, the small-glass wine drinkers, pointed out that it kept the wine at the right temperature and that its rim was special due to its thickness.
Over time, the original glass became an icon of Bilbao and also spread throughout the Basque Country, but after more than a century of tradition it has lost its presence in bars, although not in the hearts of many txikiteros.