Written on
August 27, 2010 – 8:23 am | by elaine
This week our ever-inquisitive intern Holly chatted to Matthew Persson, from the family design trio Who’s? Glass. Read how the father and sons team, who used to work for Dartington Crystal, set out on their own and created a succesful ethical glass company.
Holly: I see that you all have a lot of experience as glassmakers, but when and why did you decide to form a business together?
Matthew: Between us we have over 70 years experience in glassmaking and designing, and it was until the last few years we decided to get together to do something ourselves.
Ever since i graduated back in 1998 with a glass design degree we had always intended to set up a small studio in our hometown but it wasn’t until 2007, nearly ten years later that we finally and realistically looked into the possibility. The main catalyst for the forming of Who’s? Glass was that at the time my father (Lars) had just been made redundant from the UK’s last remaining glass manufacturing company Dartington Crystal where he had been a Master-Glass Maker for over 38 years. This came as quite a shock and turning point as he still felt passionate about making glass and still had so much left to offer and teach. Over his nearly 40 years at Dartington he nurtured and taught many of the remaining glass-makers still there today, including myself, so it seemed the next logical step. Within weeks of my dad being made redundant, my brother (Anders) resigned from Dartington Crystal where he held a prominent position in logistics. Who’s? Glass was subsequently born in May 2008. I stayed at Dartington Crystal where I had been working as an in-house glass product and conceptual graphic designer since 2005 until I resigned in May 2009 to join what the three of us had started in 2008. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength, growing slowly but now with over supplying over 75 regular stockists throughout the UK.
Holly: From your website I see that you describe working with your family as a ‘genuine family affair’. Do you find that because you are all family you work better as a team? Do you all have specific skills in different areas of the business?
Matthew: I would say that being such a close family we do have our moments and we do know how to, lets say ‘tease one another’, but ultimately we do work extremely well as a team. We work well together because we all know what our skills are and who does what. We can also cover for one another and help out with ‘out-of-work’ dilema’s/priorities. In terms of our specific skills, the basic roles are as follows Lars: master-glass maker, Anders: finance and sales & Matthew: secondary glass-maker& marketing/design. We pretty much play to our strengths and work experiences. Lars has only ever worked as a glass maker where as Anders has both worked in Glass, accountancy and sales. I have also pretty much only worked as a glass maker or in product design but worked very closely within the Marketing department at Dartington so this became invaluable to us. Regarding our other roles/duties, we all pitch in whenever needed – whether its bottles that need collecting, orders to pack or the studio needs cleaning. It’s pretty much a 6 and half day a week operation but more fulfilling than any other job we’ve ever had before.
Holly: Where do you get inspiration for the design of your new products?
Matthew: The inspiration is always strong but the design for our glasses at the moment are pretty limited. As we only reform the bottle, there is a lot we cannot manipulate due to it’s original form so we tend to make only minor amendments and add colour where necessary. Also, due to the nature of our raw materials (post consumer waste) we are confined to what people prefer to buy and drink. For example, in summer we tend to be inundated with Corona Extra and Desperados bottles as the light Mexican beers combined with lime is very popular. However Corona seems to be popular all year though. In the winter we tend to see more spirit bottles being left outside our studio. Bottles are also used less in the winter and aluminum cans are more abundant. Don’t ask me why! Cider is another summer drink along with Gin. The design elements we do apply usually come from something we have attempted or produced in crystal or blown in glass in a previous factory/time. Our WiBo (from wine bottles – below) is our most design led range. From one type of wine bottle we can create tumblers, planters, goblets, pitcher, carafes, vases and bowls. We can also create a guitar slide from the neck. Absolutely nothing is wasted.
In terms of new products, it’s you the consumer who propels us. By gauging the popularity of the drink we can identify and estimate how popular a glass can be. Usually people buy for gifts and everyone usually has a favourite drink that is shared knowledge with everyone they know. We tend to use the wisdom that if they drink it then they’ll probably buy it. Drinking is quite tribalistic and people tend to stick to certain brands/company’s. It’s a matter of finding out which are the most popular!
Holly: Feedback from Pure Design customers shows that some of your most popular products on our site are the Corona Extra Hi-Ball glasses and Kelloggs ‘Pintie’ Jugs. But what would you say yours are and why do you think that is?
Matthew: Our most popular products are the Corona Extra, Sol (almost non-existent now), Pintie milk bottle milk jug (cornflakes and ready brek) and Desperados. Our new Newcastle Brown Ale glasses, Stella Artois and Orangina glasses are quickly catching them up though. I would say these are popular purely down the permanent branded decal that obviously shows that they are recycled and easily indentifiable that they were once bottles. Corona Extra is the 4th biggest selling lager in the world a contemporary hip summer drink and visually unobtrusive so it really is a ‘no-brainer’ as they say in retail.
The milk bottle jugs are retro to the core and nearly everyone we speak to has a memory of these adorning their breakfast tables in the eighties. Desperados beer is a grower and steadily becoming firm competition for Corona Extra. Sol would be here but a change in their bottle branding from decal (on bottle logo) to a label (stuck on logo) means that the UK no longer stocks this type of beer in that bottle anymore. Any company out there selling recycled Sol bottle glasses are importing them from Mexico or the USA/Canada but this isn’t in our company’s ethos. My personal favourites are the milk bottle milk jugs/glasses and the Orangina glasses strictly because they take me back to my youth growing up in the 1980′s. My favourite bottle to make would be the Desperados glasses as the bottles are meticulously even in thickness and the glass is easier to heat and manipulate. The COE (Co-efficient rates of Expansion) of bottle soda glass is the widest of all glasses so one brand of bottle differs from another in terms of hardness and softness. It can be quite challenging to say the least and can only really be overcome through practice.
Holly: Finally, what tips do you have for budding glassmakers or designers?
Matthew: First of all, if you want to recycle bottle glass, don’t use a particular brand of blended vegetable extract drink that’s dark brown and comes in a glass bottle with a red cap! They don’t like it so don’t even try. Unfortunately the glass maker industry, like many other crafted industries in this country, is in decline and being quickly submerged under a wave of cheap manufactured products from China. In my role as an in-house designer for a major glass manufacturer I have seen this first hand through redundancies and down sizing and witnessed the blatant misinterpretation that ‘get it cheap, stack it high’ is good enough. What I would recommend to any glass maker/designer is to find a niche market and respond/produce to that market the best you possibly can with a product that’s original and made with intention. Research the markets needs, and try to use recycled materials as much as possible, especially in glass as it can be endlessly melted down with no loss in quality. Packaging and marketing is almost as important as the product itself in today’s retail environment, so build a product/brand/business quickly and decisively whilst sticking to certain goals and rules. Products have a limited shelf life before they start to look tired and stale so always make time for development of new ideas and products.
The one main piece of advice I would give to anyone is that you have to enjoy what you are doing and don’t go into it for any other reason than the love of it!
A range of Who’s? Glass products are available to order now online from Pure Design. This interview was conducted by Holly Langford, Pure Design Digital Marketing Intern.
Tags: corona, dartington, designer interview, devon glass making, eco friendly gifts, eco friendly glasses, eco glassware, ethical designer, glass blowing, glass industry, glass making, glass students, holly langford, newcastle brown ale, orangina, pure design, recycled glass, UK glass makers, whos glass, wi-bo
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This week our Holly chatted to Anna Londei, Pure Design textile and fashion designer.
The ‘Flutter’ butterfly and ‘Decoflora’ floral wall stickers are available to order online now. Made from 100% felt with a water resistant coating the colours are naturally deep and rich, with a soft velvet finish. The stickers have been designed to for easy application and to be removable, making a home makeover as easy as 1-2-3. The butterfly shaped ‘Flutter’ felt stickers, and the floral ‘Decoflora’ stickers are both available in a variety of sizes and colours, priced from £26.99 and £45.00 respectively, plus p&p (available in packs of five and ten).
