About Marqorin
Marqorin makes hand-blown crystal decanters and carafes. Sixteen shapes, no stoppers, no cut patterns, no engraved monograms. Everything we sell is made to our own drawings by one workshop, and everything we sell is meant to be used rather than kept in a cabinet.
Blown, not moulded
Every piece starts as a gather of molten glass on the end of a steel pipe and is shaped by hand against a wet wooden block. Nothing is pressed into a metal mould, which is why the walls thin and thicken slightly as they rise and why no two pieces in the same shape hold exactly the same volume. The capacities on our product pages are honest averages, not specifications.
The glass is lead-free. Traditional lead crystal is easier to blow and refracts more brightly, and we do not use it — wine sits in these vessels for hours at a time, and we would rather not have that conversation. Lead-free glass is harder to work and a little less flashy in the light. That is the trade.
Four families
The range is organised by what the shape does, not by what it costs. Column pieces are upright with narrow necks, so they open a wine slowly. Arc pieces are built around one sweeping curve and give the wine a wide shallow surface, which opens it fast. Coil pieces are blown as a single tube turned back on itself — the most difficult to make and the most difficult to clean. Bell pieces are wide and low, the most stable on a table, and include the two small carafes sized for a single bottle.
If you are buying one decanter and want it to be useful rather than admired, buy from Bell or Arc. If you want the thing people ask about, buy from Coil. We would rather say that than sell you the wrong one.
Why there are no stoppers
A stopper keeps dust out and does nothing else useful. It also traps the volatile compounds you decanted the wine to release, and it gives a hand-blown piece a ground joint that can seize. Every Marqorin piece is supplied open. If you need to cover one overnight, a saucer works.
Annealing, and why it takes a day
Finished pieces go into an annealing oven and cool from around 500°C to room temperature over about fourteen hours. Rushing that leaves stress in the glass, and stressed glass cracks weeks later for no visible reason. It is the least interesting part of the process and the reason a decanter survives being washed.
Who we are
Marqorin is a trading name of BESTWEAR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, registered in Hong Kong. We ship worldwide. Everything — orders, breakages, returns, questions about which shape suits a wine — goes to info@marqorin.com, and we answer within one business day.