* In mid October Blenko Glass announced a new design team, this was the press release.
NEW DESIGN TEAM JOINS BLENKO
GLASS IN MILTON, WEST VIRGINIA
Continuing a long tradition
of engaging exceptional designers, Blenko Glass of Milton WV, has joined forces
with a dynamic new design team of Emma Walters and Andrew Shaffer.
Blenko has been handcrafting
glass since 1893 and hired its first designer, Winslow Anderson, in 1947. The
position has been held by an impressive of who’s who in glass since Anderson’s
time. The hiring of these two young talents continues that
Upon accepting the full time
positions as designers at Blenko, Walters and Shaffer add to the glass company’s
design legacy. They bring a powerful blend of academic and design experience
accompanied by practical hot glass knowledge.
Emma Walters is a central
Pennsylvania native who received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art
before studying at VSUP in Prague in the Czech Republic.
She has traveled the world on
a cruise ship presenting glass blowing demonstrations. From Australia to Alaska
and beyond Walters was an employee of world renowned Corning Museum of Glass
and their Hot Glass Roadshow.
Additionally Walters has
worked in places and with glass masters that include some of the world’s best. She has worked with glass master Martin
Janecky, Pablo Soto, Gianni Toso and Sonja Blomdahl. She has made glass at
prestigious locations including Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, The
Pittsburgh Glass Center, Haystack School of Crafts in Maine and Pilchuck Glass School in Washington
State.
Andrew Shaffer hails from
Downingtown, Pennsylvania and studied Furniture Design and Sculpture at
Kutztown University. He first encountered hot glass in a public arts facility
in Reading, PA and then worked in several glass studios in that area. He
received his BFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. While a student he
continued to work at a number of hot glass facilities in the Philadelphia area.
He worked as a design and
production liaison for Simon Pierce in Vermont and then at a secession of other
hot glass houses in the New York and eastern United States with projects that
included modern hand-blown lighting. His
work with design and hands on skills crafting hot glass gives him a much
desired skill set.
Shaffer and Walters joined
forces to launch their own hot glass studio specializing in high quality art
glass and architectural lighting in 2014. From their hot glass studio in the
Finger Lakes region of New York State they specialized in producing high
quality, specialized glass that included architectural lighting.
They joined Blenko at the
first of October 2017 and have claimed the onsite Blenko design studio as their
workshop.
Regarding the future Walters
states “”I am inspired to
work with the talented Blenko glass team, combining traditional techniques with
modern ideas to create new glass works in the brilliant Blenko colors that are
impossible to ignore.”
Reflecting on joining Blenko Schaffer remarked
“I feel honored to design for the Blenko Glass Company. I am excited to
collaborate with such a knowledgeable and skilled team enabling conceptual
ideas to be executed by hands and minds steeped in years of artistry and
experience. I am grateful for this opportunity to carry on not only the
West Virginia tradition of hand crafted glass, but to build upon and contribute
to America’s oldest industry.”
They are diligent at present
working to creating a line of Holiday items for immediate production as well as
developing new items and line for release in early 2017. The future is bright
as they look to new ideas, a new color, practical beverage and serving ware,
exploring options for Blenko designed and made lighting and more.
For a century old company the
future looks bright with the talents of Walters and Shaffer joining the skilled
Blenko artisans. Assuredly decades of success will be repeated from the hot
glass tanks in Milton. -30-
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