Blenko Glass...American Made

Winslow Anderson for Blenko

Back in the 1970's Lewis' father and I purchased a gift shop in Williamsburg Virginia.  I went from being just Mom to running a gift shop.   This was my first experience in buying for a shop.  One of the companies that we bought from was Blenko.  Their glass was always well done, but I knew little about their history, other than they were located in West Virginia.

Wayne Husted for Blenko

My brother's wife, Liz who had family connections with West Virginia, talked about the old art glass pieces done by some of the early glass artist at Blenko.  We started getting interested in the early pieces by the company.

Wayne Husted for Blenko

Blenko was started by William J.Blenko, who was born in London, England in 1853.  He was fascinated by the idea of glass making at an early age and was apprenticed to stain glass makers in England.  He came to the states to open his own company making glass.  Here in the states in the early 20th century, people making stained glass windows felt that things made in Europe were better than those made state side.  He was forced to moved back to England but returned later to the states and end up in West Virginia where the factory still is today.

Carl Erickson

During the depression demand for stain glass decreased and the company relied on table ware lines using  classical lines and forms..  In 1937 they hired Carl Erickson as foreman 1937-42 some designs may be attributed to him.  The first design director was hired in1947, Winslow Anderson, he was allowed full and unlimited creative freedom.  This started the historic period for Blenko Glass.  During this time from 1947-1974, Blenko had four designers, beside Anderson, were Wayne Husted, Joel Philip Myers and John Nickerson. Each in their turn were responsible for iconic designs for Blenko.

John Nickerson

 Wayne Husted was a pioneer of the  Studio Glass aesthetic movement and Joel Philip Myers carried on in the same tradition as Husted.  John Nickerson was the only designer that had had pervious experience in the glass making field. After 1974 they stopped hiring designers.  They still manufacture stain glass for making windows.