Blenko Glass Company is announcing its annual Festival of Glass, to be held at the factory in Milton, WV, on Friday and Saturday, April 5 & 6, 2024. It is Blenko’s Year of New Space Age Design, and the Festival will celebrate a year of innovative and exciting space-themed inspirations. The weekend will include classes and experiences with glass, exciting demonstrations from Blenko’s Guest Artists and Designers, a vintage sale, food trucks, and a Saturday night concert from Huntington’s Grown Ass Folks.

Blenko fans and collectors can enjoy a number of classes and experiences, all available for purchase at noon Eastern, Monday, March 11th on the company website (http://www.blenko.com). The company will be offering hands-on experiences like Blow-Your-Own 384 Water Bottles, as well as guided classes and experiences like Nightlight, Kaleidoscope, Dalle de Verre and Etching experiences. On Friday and Saturday, we are also offering a Design-Your-Own experience, where customers can choose the colors and styles of a piece made by an artist in front of their eyes.

The Festival of Glass was founded to preserve, celebrate, and communicate the rich glass heritage of West Virginia, once home to more than four hundred glass factories. Surviving and thriving, Blenko reproduces a historical piece each year to remark on and celebrate 20th century glass. This year, Blenko is reproducing a design from one of its own cherished designers – Don Shepherd – from his glass studio and practice before joining Blenko. The DAS Glass America ‘Moonscape’ Vase is a 14-inch tall freeform, triangular vase made with a unique, three-piece open-air mould. The surface of the glass picks up Shepherd’s hand-sculpted and -crafted moon craters and ridges: it is a stunning piece of contemporary glass design and featured in Hay and Ice Blue.

The centerpiece of the Festival’s wares is certainly the Lift Off Decanter. Invoking classic midcentury motifs, the Crystal decanter with a straight optic calls to mind the lift off cloud from the cheekily nostalgic Rocket stopper, available in two colorways, Ruby or Cobalt. The rocket decanter stopper is modeled on the V2 rocket and midcentury space age designs as much as by the toys that inspired a generation to dream of going into space.

The Festival will feature the debut fundraising event for the newly incorporated non-profit Blenko Glass Foundation, whose purpose is to preserve and fortify West Virginia’s storied glassmaking heritage through conservation, education, and active community engagement. The Foundation will be hosting a Meet The Designers Evening, with food and drink and a chance to talk to Blenko designers past and present. Blenko will be selling a new edition of designer emeritus Matt Carter’s 9711 Vase for exclusive purchase during the event weekend, and guests will get a chance to meet him and other Blenko artists at this ticketed event.

Blenko President John Blenko will be on hand for the Festival weekend, available to sign purchased glass at the Visitor Center, and meet with collectors and visitors. The event will also feature a collector’s edition poster commemorating the weekend designed with Base Camp Printing of Charleston, WV, famed for their beautiful hand-printed and meticulously designed posters. A limited edition will be available in the Visitor Center and online.

The two-day event will end on Saturday evening with a special free concert by Huntington’s own Grown Ass Folks on the shores of its small lake in the Dalle Barn. This will be an unforgettable show set in a charismatic location! Grown Ass Folks is an innovative native jazz/funk/soul DJ with a penchant for immersive experiences and great vibes.