We are a two person team and life partners. This shop is our combined creation. We work from home which is located in the foothills of the Mt Jefferson wilderness in Oregon.
I, Ben, have been blowing glass since the spring of 2010. I graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering at Oregon State University in 2007. Had I pursued that path I would have been working in a large scale manufacturing environment making things more efficient. That would involve mass production while reducing material and labor costs through design and automation. I realized I didn't want a career where I work to make automated systems that would ultimately result in laying off workers and earning more for the CEO and shareholders.
I had just got back from a long sailing trip down the west coast into Mexico when I decided I was going to bite the bullet and get a job I'd probably hate. I moved in with a friend in Portland, OR and started applying for jobs. My friend was a glass instructor and we built a glass studio in the garage of the house we were renting.
I instantly fell in love with it and decided to go full time after my first sale at a local smoke shop. I then went on to supply smoke shops throughout Oregon and sold to distributors who spread my work across the country.
I met Grace in 2012 and fell in love. We bought a house out near the mountains and started our life together. She started blowing glass as well and opened our Etsy shop in 2016.
We also started doing fun events like barter fairs where we get to set up a booth and camp with fellow artists. We get to see live music and celebrate living with like minded people. That is exactly what we want in life and the kind of reality we want to bring our children up in. We've since made other items such as hummingbird feeders, terrariums, and pendants to be more family friendly for such events.
It is a struggle everyday to do this and sadly now the importers have arrived online to undercut us but we will continue to do what we love while we can. This is our dream.
Thanks for reading and visiting our shop!
I, Ben, have been blowing glass since the spring of 2010. I graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering at Oregon State University in 2007. Had I pursued that path I would have been working in a large scale manufacturing environment making things more efficient. That would involve mass production while reducing material and labor costs through design and automation. I realized I didn't want a career where I work to make automated systems that would ultimately result in laying off workers and earning more for the CEO and shareholders.
I had just got back from a long sailing trip down the west coast into Mexico when I decided I was going to bite the bullet and get a job I'd probably hate. I moved in with a friend in Portland, OR and started applying for jobs. My friend was a glass instructor and we built a glass studio in the garage of the house we were renting.
I instantly fell in love with it and decided to go full time after my first sale at a local smoke shop. I then went on to supply smoke shops throughout Oregon and sold to distributors who spread my work across the country.
I met Grace in 2012 and fell in love. We bought a house out near the mountains and started our life together. She started blowing glass as well and opened our Etsy shop in 2016.
We also started doing fun events like barter fairs where we get to set up a booth and camp with fellow artists. We get to see live music and celebrate living with like minded people. That is exactly what we want in life and the kind of reality we want to bring our children up in. We've since made other items such as hummingbird feeders, terrariums, and pendants to be more family friendly for such events.
It is a struggle everyday to do this and sadly now the importers have arrived online to undercut us but we will continue to do what we love while we can. This is our dream.
Thanks for reading and visiting our shop!