Bauble makers branch out for sales fillip A snowy town in the forests of Germany is the site of a minor seasonal miracle. After almost being wiped out by low-cost foreign rivals over the past decade, the Christmas bauble makers of Lauscha say the world is again buying more of their wares. Delicate and often ornately decorated balls in red, green or gold; angels, Santas, and twinkly stars - Ines Zetzmann, head of ornament maker Greiner-Mai, says shipments from eastern Germany's Thuringian Forest have been increasing since 2010 as a shrunken industry has reinvented itself as a maker of innovative, high-end products. "In the past couple of years we've seen a strong trend towards value and quality," she says. While foreign-made baubles can sell for less than €1 each, Lauscha wares start at €7. The most expensive bauble to date went on sale for €5,000 two years ago - it sold. An old glassmaking centre, Lauscha invented glass ornaments in the 18th-century for the Christmas trees that other Germans - such as Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert - were exporting to the Christian world. Two world wars and German partition did not tarnish the lure of the trinkets that glow serenely against a backdrop of green fir. Ms Zetzmann and her husband, members of a long line of glassmakers, started making Christmas tree ornaments again in 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. "The US was big business," she says. The Americans rediscovered the ornate [and] old German tradition. Their company had 24 employees by the late 1990s. But then big retailers in the US and Europe discovered China and eastern Europe. The chains came up with their own designs and had distant, low-cost factories churn out products at unprecedented rates. Germany's glassmaking artisans, centred in southern Thuringia and neighbouring northern Bavaria, were flung into crisis. Exports of glass Christmas ornaments plummeted from €32m in 2001 to €11.3m in 2009, says the German statistics office. Greiner-Mai shrank to 10 people, who now make a thousand baubles a day. Krebs Glas Lauscha, one of the bigger operators, went from 240 local workers to 70; its output fell from 15m-20m baubles a year to 7m. The companies scrambled to survive in a high-price niche. Some turned to traditional designs or tried new shapes. Others eyed alternative festivals, such as Orthodox New Year. Innovation became a way of creating demand. "If you buy from us, you basically start a collection," says Ms Zetzmann. Every year we add four or five items. We had six shapes 10 years ago and now we have over 70 - and all in three colours. Gerd Ross, head of Krebs Glas, says: "We did a glass hamburger in 2011, and we've done French fries, robots and PlayStations. This year we gave some of our traditional shapes bright colours like glowing green and glowing yellow. Exports bottomed out in 2009 and rose to €13.9m in 2011 - and Mr Ross and Ms Zetzmann say shipments to the US and Europe are running higher this year than last. "Specialised city-centre stores are coming back to us," says Mr Ross. Such retailers do not want to buy each ornament by the thousand and be lumped with stock for years. They'll take 300 of one ornament and 300 of another - it's about range and variety. The glassmakers of Lauscha seem relatively content as the Christmas holidays approach. But they also appear to know they cannot rest for too long. "The high-end niche requires constant innovation," says Mr Ross, who is working intensely on new designs. We're going to present our Christmas 2013 collection - in January.