Wine Vision 2025: Vider SFS & Creative Glass Serbia

At the opening of the Wine Vision 2025 event, we hosted a pop-up Creative Glass Lab in the Vaider pavilion of the Serbian Glass Factory. In collaboration with the Paraćin factory, we organized a creative workshop on the history of etching and its application in packaging. Etching is the oldest glass-decorating technique used at the Paraćin factory, dating back to its founding, and it became popular throughout Europe in the 19th century.

The earliest packaging branded with this technique was pharmaceutical—15 ml cognac containers. At that time, cognac was sold as medicine. Later, tavern bottles became especially important, and etching was used to mark their volume, which became mandatory with the introduction of regulations on labeling and measuring liquid containers.

At the Paraćin factory, etching was used to finish all types of glass (fine, packaging, medical, etc.). Depending on the period in which they were made, products featured different etched patterns. The best-known glass items decorated with this technique are the glasses and bottles etched with the crown of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia or its stylized coat of arms, which were produced for special clients and became a symbol of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Today, many traditional decoration techniques such as etching serve as sources of innovation in the glass packaging industry. This technique continues through modern processes like frosting, satin effects, and sandblasting, and when combined with other decorative methods and its creative potentials are limitless.