Let me start by saying that ALL of the bottles we use come directly from our community and are collected by businesses and individuals in our local area. Our team has learned that if we can create passion and utility in the lives of others then it will help us have more in our own. And it’s carrying out this process with you by our side that we enjoy the most. You’re our most important partner and we couldn’t pull this off without you. Thank you for believing in and supporting us!

-REFRESH GLASS STORY-
In 2006 I was doing everything I was supposed to: I had earned my degree five years before and was working as a manufacturing engineer for an aerospace company in Southern California. I was treated well at work and even lived a block away from the ocean in Huntington Beach, but something just wasn’t clicking.

I wanted to shake up the routine and take some time to piece together what I would do next. I circled a date on the calendar and took all the money I’d been saving and started my travels without a clear idea of how or when they would end.

20 countries, 39 cities and a full year later I was back. I had made it all the way around the world going east and had taken one of the best rides of my life. I returned with many amazing stories and some very welcome newfound perspectives.

On certain occasions throughout that trip, I engaged in conversations where the person across from me would be talking about a profession or hobby that they enjoyed so much that they would lean forward with joy and talk with their whole body.

That’s what I wanted! A profession that, when I talked about it, generated a passion in me that people could see in my eyes, regardless of the words I chose.

The scariest part was that I had absolutely no idea how to do that.

That next year after returning to the States was probably the most frustrating of my life, trying to force a fit back in the engineering world, while all the time I introspectively puzzled about how to combine my passions for art, engineering, while supporting something bigger than just myself.

Then it started. In early 2008, having been back in the States for a year, I found that small bottle-cutting kit online. The kit contained a small scoring jig and a candle to separate the bottle, along with some sandpaper to smooth the sharp edges. The first glass took me hours to complete to my liking, and I knew there had to be a way to create really nice, smooth, melted rims. My friends who saw the first few glasses I made at the house had such animated responses I immediately knew the glasses had untapped potential.