The founder of the company, Petr Novotný (* 1952), came from East Bohemia to Nový Bor in 1967 in order to become a glassmaker. Few years later he graduated from the Secondary School of Glassmaking. As a glassmaker he started his work at the Crystalex glassworks in 1972, and in 1980 he went on to teach future generations to a glass school. He worked hard on himself all the time and gradually became one of the best glassmakers. Exactly such blowers were sought for by the world artists who came to work in Nový Bor. Many friendships and invitations to glassmaking events around the world have arisen of this relationship.
Even in totalitarianism, Petr Novotný builds a glass furnace in his family house, where he mainly produced simple round fillings of historical windows. Co-operation with archeologists is deepening and the production is gradually focusing on replicas of historical glasses made of forest glass, which the company has in its portfolio to date. After the velvet revolution in 1989, the production continues on the home furnace under the trade name BON - Biron, Otčenášek, Novotný, and when after his retirement Biron is replaced by his son-in-law Březina, it is even not necessary to change the name.
At that time, however, Petr Novotný also implemented a large glassworks project. Together with several glassmakers from Hantych glass factory of Crystalex, Fafala and Hladík (he left the company quite soon), he started to do business first by renting glass-making studios. In 1992, they bought a dilapidated building of a former textile factory in nearby village Lindava, where they opened the Ajeto glassworks with art director Bořek Šípek on 28 October 1994.
In 1997, Petr Novotný opens the Ajeto Gallery, a unique glass shop with interior by B. Šípek. In the basement of the building there ware more furnaces, because the demand for historical glass is growing and the furnace home is no longer able to cover the demand.
When, several years later, Crystalex offers a non-used building of a kindergarden for sale, Petr Novotný does not hesitate to buy it and starts building a unique center - a glassworks connected with a restaurant (opened in 2007) and a contemporary glass museum (2009).
In 2015, the Museum was expanded to include another floor and a unique roof, designed by the architect Leoš Bogar. At the same time, the sculpture of the Nový Bor artist Ivo Rozsypal decorated the front of the building. In 2017, Petr Novotný sells the Lindava glassworks Ajeto to Lasvit and the premises in Nový Bor are renamed to Novotny Glass Centrum.
