History
Thames Glass was founded in 1981 by husband and wife team Matthew and Adrian Buechner. Matthew built the furnaces and equipment and trained the glassblowers who work here today. He studied glassblowing and ceramics briefly in college and then worked for a year in a traditional glass factory in Frauenau, Germany before coming back to start his own studio. Matthew's interest in glass was prompted by his father, Thomas S. Buechner, who was the founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY (where both Matthew and Adrian grew up), as well as a gifted painter, the president of Steuben Glass, and, before that, the director of the Brooklyn Museum. Our glass is sold throughout the country and has been included in numerous publications and catalogs including Tiffany's and the Smithsonian. Matthew's glass is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY and in the Frauenau Museum of Glass in Germany.
Specialties
Experience Glassblowing! Sign up to Make your own Hand Blown Glass Ornament ($38, about 10 min), or Paperweight ($65, about 20 min) with lots of help from a skilled glassblower! We do sometimes book up, so it is always a good idea to call ahead and make an appointment. We ask for payment to reserve a glassblowing time, which is fully refundable if you cancel 48 hours or more before your scheduled time. The glass takes 2 days to cool so you can come back and pick it up, or arrange for us to ship it.