Hi, my name is Chris and I am one of two owners at MGA. I grew up in Ohio and learned the amazing art of lampworking from a friend in Eugene, OR in 2000. After spending about two years out there, a death in the family called me back to Ohio. It became immediately clear there were going to be challenges to blowing glass in Ohio, as I was pretty isolated from most other artists and suppliers. It was then that I discovered my calling: since no one else was shipping supplies quickly, accurately, without damage, and with cheerful service, I started to think about doing this myself. I think it was the day I was chasing foam peanuts around my neighbors yard (my shop was out back) and trying to pull them out of my glass tubes that I realized I had had enough. I decided I would start a supply company that would do things differently. I had an interest in the arts and business my entire life, so this would be a perfect fit. I had some solid business experience and a good friend with a business degree, Steve, who was interested in helping. The challenge was keeping him out of the National Parks! We worked tirelessly for years without taking a penny to get off the ground. Since we began in the fall of 2002, we have grown quite a bit thanks to YOU, always with a primary mission of customer service. We have always tried to have an environmental focus as well, long before we were profitable or the word "green" was popular in our society. I LOVE serving the glass community and living in beautiful Asheville, NC. I enjoy the amazing food, music, community and great outdoors by trying to hike and bike as much as possible.

After graduating college and gaining business experience in the computer industry, I decided a life living in Yosemite National Park as a naturalist was more suiting to me. A few years went by of guiding backpacking trips, fly fishing and even setting the Guinness Book of World Records for finding the world's largest pine cone. Then, my good friend Chris persuaded me to leave the Sierra Nevada Mountains to start Mountain Glass. I, my wife and now my son quickly fell in love with glass blowing and the community surrounding it. It seemed a natural fit for me to use my business experience to help provide an amazing community with the high end customer service and products they deserve. I couldn't live in a greater place; work with a finer group of people or serve better customers.

Originally from the mountains of Pennsylvania, I found myself attracted to the wonderful culture and natural beauty of Western North Carolina. I first fell in love with glass at the age of fifteen while watching my brother learn the art of lampworking. It was through him that I realized years later, I had found my calling. It has been a blessing to be involved in such a progressive industry with countless kindred people and being part of the awesome Mountain Glass family. When I'm not immersing myself in the glass world I can be found riding my motorcycle through the Blue Ridge Mountains, enjoying live music, the outdoors, volunteering with Big Brother/Big Sister and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, skiing, sipping bourbon or drinking one of the countless different local micro brews.

Though I am a sea creature at heart, I've lived in the highlands of Asheville on and off for 8 years. After graduating from University of North Carolina - Asheville, in 2008, I was hired at Mountain Glass, where I help to oversee many of the daily operations of the warehouse. I have a degree in Environmental Management, which I am currently neglecting in lieu of making music and exhausting the remainder of my youth while I have it. Working here has afforded me the time to record several albums and tour the country with my main musical project Saint Solitude, while keeping a home base in the mountain town that I can't seem to escape - no matter how hard I try. I keep busy by being underwater, hiking, and living vicariously through other people's dogs.

I started at Mountain Glass Arts Inc. back in 2009. I am the accountant for the company and do everything that has to do with the money side. I've been in accounting for over 25 years and to this day still love working with numbers. My nickname at the office is "Hound Dog". Coming to Asheville in 2004 was the best thing me and my wife (Daphne) have ever done. Leaving the sun and Beach of Orange County was easy although some people thought we were crazy. We love our (Funkytown) Asheville, NC. The best part of Mountain Glass Arts is the people and the uniqueness of the business. While not at work I love NASCAR. I've been a Bristol season ticket holder for 5 years and love racing. My goal in life is to go to all the NASCAR tracks. So far I've been to Bristol, Darlington, Charlotte and a few local tracks.

I have been at Mountain Glass Arts for 2 years. It is the best job I have ever had! Working for a progressive company helping talented artists, alongside great people in a beautiful location; nothing could be better for me. Prior to coming here I worked doing anything I could that involved photography, from printing in a lab, to running my own professional photography business, and most recently as a photographer for the Asheville Citizen Times newspaper, but the corporate print journalism world was not for me. My wife Karen, a lampworker for 15 years, and I moved to Asheville, from Boulder, Colorado 6 years ago to be closer to family, and have really come to love the region. We get out to hike and camp in the mountains and canoe on the water whenever we can. We love our 2 dogs like they are our children. I still love to photograph the beautiful nature and landscapes we are so blessed to live among, as well as the many excellent live music shows I attend. I mess around on the mandolin a little, and rock the soft glass beads when the studio isn't too hot to breathe!

I moved to Asheville, NC about seven years ago from NYC for the peace & beauty of the Mountains. I have worked in retail training/management, as a window display artist, interior design, for major and indie record labels, as well as doing marketing for a nationally touring jamband for over ten years. Life on the road with a touring band lost its glamour, it was time for change, so I settled into the Mountain Glass Arts family, and could not be happier. This job allows me to draw from my diverse background of careers, as well as encourages my love for all things crafty. When I leave here, I enjoy playing ball with my adorable French Bulldog, Shully, who is also quite fond of taking rides on anything with wheels, gardening with my boyfriend and creating something new, from something old, with a touch of glass.

I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains while hitch-hiking through in the early 70's. It took me nearly 35 years to relocate my life here, but my only regret is it wasn't sooner. After moving here I published my first book, opened a 2nd business and got in a lot of hiking. The economy going under took the businesses out, but I found a home here at Mountain Glass. It's the fortunate people who find a way of crafting what they are driven to express, whether it's via the forming of an intricate art glass piece which mesmerizes the eye, or by crafting a musical passage which touches the depths of the soul, or by creating a new concept by way of fiction. The staff at MGA have been able to give their dreams form, and I feel fortunate to be among them.

From the eastern part of North Carolina, a man enters the awesome world of Asheville to become...one with the glass. I have lived in Asheville for 3 years now and absolutely love it. I am so lucky to find a job working with the best people who I can call friends, a company that is growing, and to be able to learn from those I work with, the art of glass. I have picked up glassblowing as a full time hobby that I have been loving and wanting to do for years.  I am a computer nerd who is a fan of the internet. I moderate a subreddit at reddit/lampwork, which is an open discussion area for glassblowers and and artists.

Guthrie is a recent gradute of the Savannah College of Art and Design where he majored in Illustration and Sequential Art. Guthrie says art has always been a motivational force in his life and the passion to create is an obsession he just cannot resist. Although this has not always been an easy path for him to follow, he wouldn't trade it for anything, and Guthrie is happy to be a part of the Mountain Glass Arts team.

I am the newest member of the fantastic Mountain Glass family, love it here! I am a Mechanical Engineering student here in Asheville, NC. My favorite past-times include going Phishing, jamming on my Stratocaster, and enjoying the wonderful micro-brews that "Beer City USA" has to offer! I'm originally a Buffalo, NY kid.... so with that being said--Go Bills and Sabres!

They are professionally trained greeters and big lovable babies! They enjoy chewing up cardboard together, sleeping in hilarious positions and getting attention. If you come by for a visit they will be certain to come say hi!