Absintheglas Pontarlier

1475: Simon de Thysac obtains the right to found a glassworks in a place called Rochiers.

There are still traces of this act in the National Archives.

It seems as if La Rochere's activity began before all flat glass was produced (according to the cylinder stretching process, wherein the glass is formed into a cylinder which is then the is cut lengthwise) and items for local use.

1595: The village burns down completely.

The glassworks is rebuilt three years later. 

1636: La Rochère is destroyed again during the Thirty Years' War.

1666: The furnaces are being reheated and have not been turned off to this day.

1858: François-Xavier Fouillot takes over the glassworks together with two partners.

1868: The partners leave the company and the descendants of François-Xavier Fouillot take over. 

1870: Glass bricks are included in production. This The range can be expanded through the numerous brick kilns explain in the village. At the same time, La Rochere is already collaborating cafes, hotels and restaurants together and supplies them with glassware (Carafes, drinking glasses, jugs...).

1895: A catalog of all La Rochere products is published published (many services with cut glasses, salt shakers, jam jars, medicinal material, lighting material, bricks, plates…)

1923: The glassworks La Rochère and Clairefontaine merge the Société Anonyme Etablissement Boileau-Mercier. 

1960: The glassworks becomes the "Cristallerie de La Rochère". 

1967: Production is automated. The hand presses are made by replaced automatic presses. A glass melting furnace is installed. From now on, the various glass blocks and bricks are machine-made and pressed automatically. Productivity and working conditions are improved. The first machine-made articles of the Table culture are the sundaes, which La Rochere soon became one of the key players in the market. 

1970: The artisanal manufacture of glass continues to develop with the appearance of new decorative items such as lamps and vases where our recognized know-how comes into play (Art Nouveau lamps, vases with iridescent colors…). The facility is open to the public made accessible and visitors have the opportunity to meet the glass masters to watch at work. In a gallery we put regional artists and glass works of art. A Japanese garden makes the visit even more pleasant.

1999: A more modern building to accommodate a second Glass melting tank and new presses are built. La Rochere developed his machines are constantly evolving and responding with this new furnace the increasing demand for tableware. 

2004: The legal form of the company changes to a SAS (French limited company).

2009: 75,000 visitors have already visited La Rochere, making it the most popular tourist destination of the department of Haute Saône and the third most popular in the Franche Comté region (after the citadel of Besançon and the Royal Salt Pans in Arc-et-Senans).

Even though production became increasingly mechanical in the 1970s, La Rochère still has the artisanal production of mouth-blown Glass never abandoned. She is the pride and joy of the company of the main attractions for visitors.

The two different types of production, the mouth-blown glass and the machine-made glass, also explain the big one Price difference of our products.

In both sectors, our products are top class. the precisely calculated prices are the result of various factors that are not necessarily a handicap and for which our name stands: ours small size (145 people in the department of Haute-Saône) that gives us a certain flexibility, our know-how and our real interest for the concerns and wishes of our customers.