Employee Spotlight - Braiden Meadows
Braiden Meadows joined us at the very beginning of 2024, and has been a diligent and excited apprentice ever since. Our apprenticeship programs put our novice glassblowers through a series of departments, training, and roles so that we cultivate well-rounded glassworkers who understand all of the moving parts that make a manufacturing factory run. Braiden’s done his shift in Shipping and has been cycling through his nightwatchman shift at present.
What we love is that Braiden respectfully takes every opportunity he can to practice and get his hands on the glass. He’s been asking the Creative Director what tricks and techniques we want him to learn – going home and finding everything he can on the technique – and then spending his lunch hour munching and practicing.
He’s a student of our catalogs, too, and he’s currently super excited by Joel Philip Meyers' designs – so if you’ve picked up a lunchtime piece in the Visitors Center lately with a tall, thin, slender neck and flat lip – that’s a Meyers by Meadows experiment.
What Braiden exemplifies for us is the excitement and the artistry that goes into each our handmade products – and that all of this depends on folks like Braiden honing their craft and bringing it into the shop. All of the glass is made by all of us – and that’s a really special thing when all the parts move as joyfully as Braiden does.
