22 December 2013
Last updated at 19:29 ET
Mass production started in Vienna in 1905, and 108 years later, the company - Original Vienna Snow Globes - is still going strong.
Mr Perzy III has been in charge since the early 1980s and the company, despite having only 30 employees, 15 of which work from home, produces about 200,000 snow globes a year.
Despite the company's small size, and relative obscurity
among those not knowledgeable about snow globes, it continues to have
some illustrious customers.
Recently it has made globes for US President Barack Obama's children, and in the past it has produced them for former White House incumbents Bill Clinton and the late Ronald Reagan.
And the snow globe that falls and smashes so dramatically at the start of the 1941 movie Citizen Kane was made by Original Vienna Snow Globes.
Mr Perzy III, who took over the running of the company from his father, Mr Perzy II, says it was never in doubt that he would join the family business.
"I like it, it is like a hobby," he says.
"I think I'm not very important, [but] the snow globe is a thing which gives some magic and enchantment to people."
Miniature diorama
The family company that invented the snow globe
Erwin Perzy III has grown up surrounded by fake snow - the recipe for which remains a closely guarded secret
Erwin Perzy III knows a thing or two about making it snow - it's the family business.
The 57-year-old Austrian is the grandson of the man widely
acknowledged as the inventor of the snow globe. His grandfather, the
first Erwin Perzy, came up with the idea by accident in 1900.Mass production started in Vienna in 1905, and 108 years later, the company - Original Vienna Snow Globes - is still going strong.
Mr Perzy III has been in charge since the early 1980s and the company, despite having only 30 employees, 15 of which work from home, produces about 200,000 snow globes a year.
Continue reading the main story
Erwin Perzy III"Nowadays kids have everything... I mean, they have computers and lots of other electronic things, and our snow globe has nothing, no battery, no nothing”
Unlike cheaper rivals from the
Far East, the company's snow globes are handpainted and manually
assembled, and the actual globe is still made of glass rather than
plastic.
Recently it has made globes for US President Barack Obama's children, and in the past it has produced them for former White House incumbents Bill Clinton and the late Ronald Reagan.
And the snow globe that falls and smashes so dramatically at the start of the 1941 movie Citizen Kane was made by Original Vienna Snow Globes.
Mr Perzy III, who took over the running of the company from his father, Mr Perzy II, says it was never in doubt that he would join the family business.
The company has 350 designs in its standard range of show globes
"I think I'm not very important, [but] the snow globe is a thing which gives some magic and enchantment to people."
Miniature diorama
Mr Perzy I, a surgical instruments mechanic, accidentally
created the first snow globe in 1900 as a result of an experiment to try
to improve the brightness of the newly invented - and then not very
bright - electric light bulb.
He was inspired by the shoemakers of the time, who to get more
light from a candle mounted a glass globe filled with water in front of
the flame. This gave them a light spot the size of a hand.
This was the principal that Mr Perzy I wanted to re-create in front of a light bulb, but found that it did not work very well.
His grandson picks up the story: "And one day he found a white powder, semolina, used for baby food. And he poured it into the glass globe, and it got soaked by the water and floated very slowly to the base of the globe. This effect reminded him of snowfall.
"And this was the very first, the basic idea for inventing a snow globe."
The next step was to add a miniature diorama, which for the first 40 years of production was always a church.
Erwin Perzy II took over from his father after the Second World War and introduced different designs, such as Christmas trees, Father Christmas and snowmen figurines.
Mr Perzy II also introduced a new material for the artificial snow, which remains a company secret.
'They are enchanted'
The company's founder invented the snow globe in Vienna at the very start of the 20th Century
This was the principal that Mr Perzy I wanted to re-create in front of a light bulb, but found that it did not work very well.
His grandson picks up the story: "And one day he found a white powder, semolina, used for baby food. And he poured it into the glass globe, and it got soaked by the water and floated very slowly to the base of the globe. This effect reminded him of snowfall.
"And this was the very first, the basic idea for inventing a snow globe."
The next step was to add a miniature diorama, which for the first 40 years of production was always a church.
Erwin Perzy II took over from his father after the Second World War and introduced different designs, such as Christmas trees, Father Christmas and snowmen figurines.
Mr Perzy II also introduced a new material for the artificial snow, which remains a company secret.
'They are enchanted'
The company now has 350 different designs in its standard
range, but thousands of others that customers can specially order.
Customised orders make up 20% of total sales.
There are four different sizes of globes, and some suppliers
will not ship them in very cold weather in case the water freezes,
expands and cracks the glass.
Mr Perzy III says he continues to be most enthused about the business when he sees how excited children are as they visit his factory, which doubles as a museum for all things snow globe.
"Nowadays kids have everything... I mean, they have computers and lots of other electronic things, and our snow globe has nothing, no battery, no nothing," he says.
"And when the kids come here, their eyes are wide open, they are enchanted, and everyone has one or two snow globes in their hands, and they are shaking them. That is a very nice moment for me."
Looking to the future, Mr Perzy's daughter is going to eventually take over the reins.
He says: "My daughter is 24 years old, and at the moment she is working on taking over the business in 10 years from now. She is doing a very good job here."
The artificial snow is made of a material that is a company secret
Mr Perzy III says he continues to be most enthused about the business when he sees how excited children are as they visit his factory, which doubles as a museum for all things snow globe.
"Nowadays kids have everything... I mean, they have computers and lots of other electronic things, and our snow globe has nothing, no battery, no nothing," he says.
"And when the kids come here, their eyes are wide open, they are enchanted, and everyone has one or two snow globes in their hands, and they are shaking them. That is a very nice moment for me."
Looking to the future, Mr Perzy's daughter is going to eventually take over the reins.
He says: "My daughter is 24 years old, and at the moment she is working on taking over the business in 10 years from now. She is doing a very good job here."
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