Hoogs had his first glassblowing experience 13 years ago at Berkshire Glass in West
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a studio which offered to train applicants with no experience necessary.
“The first time I ever saw it was when I went to apply for the job,” he said. “People were working with glass … and I was amazed by it.
It was at this shop that he was taught the basic skills of the trade and the more he learned, the more fascinated he became. After apprenticing at Berkshire Glass, he took a part-time position at Fellerman Raabe Glass in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Then he attended Penland School of Crafts for a two-month intensive taught by Peter Ivy and returned the following year to study with Einar and Jamie De La Tore, continuing to work for various glassblowing studio’s in the area before finally opening up his own studio with his wife.
Crawford’s story is extremely similar to Hoogs’.
“I first saw [glassblowing] when I was 15 and I got this feeling that I knew this was what I wanted to be doing,” she said.
She went on to study glassblowing at the Massachusetts College of Art and then — either by chance or fate — went on to work as head assistant for Fellerman Raabe Glass, the same glassblowing company where Hoogs eventually found part-time employment.
“That’s how we met,” she said with a smile. “That’s right, it was a match made in heaven.”
