All things have a story behind them.
When we look around us, we see a lot of things we take for granted. Or rather, we think they are obvious, but it all starts somewhere. When you build a new house today, you install windows - to keep out the cold breeze and let natural light into the rooms. It may be that after a few years that window glass will break. Then a glazier will be called in to replace the broken pane with a new one. In the evening, as the rain sweeps across the plot, you can listen in peace to the drops splashing down on the glass in a steady drumbeat.
Somewhere is the beginning of this story. Somewhere this has also started.
***
In the middle of the countryside and the emerging towns, an ordinary-looking road meandered. It ran through densely populated river valleys, curved through the middle of fields, plunged into deep forests and ended up in the heart of Häme. It was the Hämeen Härkätie, the gravel road along which people had travelled since the Middle Ages. It had been travelled by the herdsman with a game trap on his shoulder, and also by pilgrims and merchants. Many people had trodden it, each with their own thoughts and needs.
Now there was a man standing by the road, brushing his moustache thoughtfully. He surveyed his surroundings and wondered at the contours of the land. At last he became convinced and started on his way home. The man was Jacob Reinhold de Pont, who had decided to set up a glass factory on the Bull Road.
***
Jacob Reinhold de Pont was a Finnish landowner and influencer whose name later appeared on the pages of many different histories. He was born in Uppsala and studied at the Turku Academy, eventually working as a notary for the War College. The year 1748 was a turning point in many respects in his life. In that year, de Pont stopped working in law and finally opened a glass factory in the village of Sillanpää, Somero. The village was situated on the Härkäti road in Häme, and was therefore easily accessible.
The timing for the establishment of a new glass factory in Finland was perfect. More than 60 years had passed since the somewhat infamous years of the glass factory in Uusikaupunki, and Somero was beginning to show signs of great enthusiasm. De Pont bought a few farms in the area of the Åvik estate, and the Crown supported the new industry by donating several more desert farms for his use. De Pont began to see dreams of great success before his eyes, as German glassmakers arrived to work at the brand new glass factory in Åvik. Soon they formed the elite of the newborn foundry community. The factory's main product was window glass, but something special also found its way into the world: blue glass, made with cobalt oxide. Stories began to emerge, the message circulated and the buzz grew. People were walking along the bull road, stopping by Sillanpää and the Åvik glass factory was busy.
Not only did the new glass factory employ many families, but its activities created a whole new community. Families were started, children were baptised and the dead were buried in the area around and affected by the Åvik glassworks. Its impact is well illustrated by the fact that the Turku Cathedral Chapter established a separate Åvik pottery parish for the community. Where once there was only a small village, patches of field and forest, there was now a whole world. De Pont saw all this before him and could not have foreseen that the glassworks would continue to operate for decades.
***
Jacob Reinhold de Pont was a ploughman of his time. He was later described as an energetic entrepreneur and a powerful ruler who owned lands and estates. Among other things, he became the owner of the Lahti estate, and the estate register shows that he never neglected this estate either. The most significant achievement above all, however, is the decades of success of the Åvik glassworks, which have had a very significant impact even to this day. When we here at the 24 Center receive a job order for broken glass, and when the glass fitter then goes on a job, you can still hear de Pont's voice in all of this.
Sources:
https://www.kimalankartano.com/lahden-kartano2
https://www.harkatie.com/
http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=2118
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85vikin_lasitehdas
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Reinhold_de_Pont
