Inside Baccarat Factory

The Eye of Perfection: Inside the Baccarat factory, where the art of creating fine crystal lives on

I never knew Baccarat, France, was an actual town or the 250-year-old home of the famously collectible fine crystal. While in France recently, I had the good fortune to accompany Regina Garcia, owner of luxury boutique Events in River Oaks, for the rare chance to step behind the curtain and see Baccarat artisans at work.

The Baccarat factory is really much more than a glassworks; it is a quaint, picturesque campus dating back to 1764 when it housed a church, a school, apartments and a variety of glassmaking buildings. Now the church serves as an exhibition space and the school is off site, but 60 families still reside in apartments on the factory grounds, an enviable commute for its artisans.

We marvel at the activity, including a well-choreographed ballet of glass blowing and shaping and firing and shearing, with as many as six artisans working together on a single piece of stemware.

Inside the factory, we marvel at the activity, including a well-choreographed ballet of glass blowing and shaping and firing and shearing, with as many as six artisans working together on a single piece of stemware. At the center of the glass blowing area is a massive 24-oven circular furnace, the oldest in France at 250 years and the last of its kind.

I notice immediately that none of the artisans wear protective gloves or eyewear, despite close proximity to molten crystal and red hot ovens. Our tour guide explains "As artisans, they want to feel their tools and see the work without interference."

The work is intense and artisans take a five-minute break every hour.

At one small furnace off to the side, two teenagers and a middle-aged man are bent over a blowing rod talking intently. Baccarat's artisan apprenticeships begin at age 16 and each apprentice works at least six to seven years with a master craftsman.

To work on the most complicated pieces, a Baccarat artisan completes 15 years of training. (I ponder how many times our millennials change jobs in 15-year span.) The presence of second- and third-generation crystal artisans is also a proud tradition at the company.

Brilliant colors

As we leave the crystal blowing and shaping area, we visit a room where fired and cooled pieces receive their first of many inspections. That's when I finally hear the title I want on my business card: Eye of Perfection. At Baccarat, that's what they call the inspectors who closely examine each piece at every stage of production. If the Eye detects the slightest flaw, the piece is banished to a bin and returned to molten form.

Baccarat is famous for its brilliant colors, especially its signature red. The rich hues are created by adding mineral-bearing salts to the crystal, then applying high heat (540 Celsius) for several hours. No wonder we love the intense red — the key additive is gold dust.

Baccarat is famous for its brilliant colors, especially its signature red.

The most difficult color, resurrected through collaboration with famed designer Philippe Starck, is black. The process is so difficult that about every six attempts yields one perfect black crystal glass.

The discipline and precision of the artisans who cut Baccarat crystal is as impressive as those who blow and shape its pieces. A single vase can take several hours to several days of cutting depending on its complexity. After observing this painstaking craft, we encounter more "Eyes" who carefully examine the cut and polished pieces.

Our last stop is the assembly area for Baccarat's trademark chandeliers. Here we learn that every chandelier is completely assembled and inspected in the factory, then disassembled and shipped. We marvel at the beautiful hanging creations in various stages and the hand sorting of the gleaming pieces and parts. By this time, learning that a single chandelier can take as many as 120 man hours to make no longer surprises us.

Cristal Room

It wasn't until the next evening in Paris, while dining in the Cristal Room at Maison Baccarat, that the whole experience came into perspective. Toasting with our Harcourt champagne glasses in a grand, brick-walled salon that glistened with chandelier-laden ceilings, we truly appreciated the artistry and the time it took to create our surroundings.

The Maison de Baccarat, once the private home of Countess Marie-Laure de Noailles, now reflects Starck's uncanny ability to combine modernism and old world opulence. Along with the delicious flavors offered by Chefs Guy Martin and Adrien Manac’h, the adjacent museum of historic Baccarat pieces, including stemware designed for President Franklin Roosevelt and dozens of other elegant treasures, is the perfect pre- or post-dinner diversion.

The museum and the restaurant (reservations suggested) are open to the public and well worth placing on any Paris itinerary.

Maison Baccarat grand staircase.

Photo by Sandra Porter

Maison Baccarat grand staircase.

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Now hear this

New Texas museum shines spotlight on Tejano music history

Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum, San Antonio, tejano music

Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Roger Hernandez serves as board president of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum.

For a city that proudly calls itself the capital of Tejano music, San Antonio has long been missing a permanent place to honor the genre’s pioneers and preserve its history. That gap officially closed In December with the opening of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum at 1414 Fredericksburg Rd.

The music couldn’t have found a better steward than its founder and board president. Roger Hernandez has had his finger on the pulse of Tejano music for decades. His company, En Caliente Productions, has provided a platform for countless performing artists and songwriters in Tejano, conjunto, and regional Mexican music since 1982.

Hernandez says his wife, who ran a shop at Market Square years ago, would often get questions from visitors about the location of a physical Tejano music museum, a thing that simply did not exist. In 2022, he banded together with friends, family, and other local Tejano music supporters to make the nonprofit Hall of Fame a reality.

“I decided I've been in the music scene for over 40 years, it's time to do a museum,” Hernandez recalls.

Hernandez says a brick-and-mortar Tejano music museum has long been needed to remember musical acts and other individuals who grew the genre across Texas and northern Mexico, especially those who are aging. Recently, the community lost famed Tejano music producer Manny Guerra and Abraham Quintanilla, the renowned Tejano singer/songwriter and father of the late superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Both deaths occurred roughly one week after the Totally Tejano museum opened to the public.

“They're all dying. They're all getting older, and we need to acknowledge all these people,” Hernandez says.

The Totally Tejano Museum — named after Hernandez’s Totally Tejano Television Roku streaming — has 5,000 square feet of space packed with plaques, photos, promotional posters, musical instruments, and other memorabilia honoring the pioneers and stars of the beloved genre. Mannequins wear stage outfits from icons like Laura Canales and Flaco Jimenez, and a wall of photos remembers late greats. Totally Tejano Television plays legendary performances on a loop, bringing the exhibits to life.

The newly opened Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum includes a growing collection of memorabilia. Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Hernandez says the museum will soon welcome permanent and rotating exhibits, including traveling shows, a Hall of Fame section, and an area paying homage to Chicano music crossovers, such as the late Johnny Rodriguez, the South Texas singer-songwriter who blended country with Tex-Mex music. Plans call for the organization to hold its inaugural Hall of Fame induction in February 2026.

Eventually, a 2,000 square feet back room will be converted into additional display space and host industry gatherings, community symposiums, and record and video release parties. The museum also plans to add a gift and record shop and a music learning room where visitors can listen to early Tejano music and browse archival photos. Hernandez is already talking with local school districts about educational field trips.

Much like Tejano itself, the museum is a grassroots production. Hernandez and fellow board members have used their own money to rent, renovate, develop, and maintain the museum space. The board also leads the selection of the Hall of Fame honorees and curates the exhibits.

Hernandez has been heartened by the museum’s reception, both from media outlets and music fans around Texas and beyond.

“We had a radio station come in this morning from Houston to interview us,” he says. “People have come in from Lubbock, Texas. We have had people from Midland, Texas. We have another person who emailed us who’s coming in from New York. People are learning all about us.”

That includes many of the musicians who helped shape the genre. Johnny Hernandez, Sunny Ozuna, Elida Reyna, and Danny Martinez from Danny and The Tejanos are among the luminaries who have already graced the halls.

The Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum is now open 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, and closed Monday. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Fans can call 210-314-1310 for more information.

san antonio tejano music museums hall of fame music openings