Our History
Explore the full time-line of Stuart Wiltshire Glass.
View our entire journey
From Freeform Glass through to modern day Stuart Wiltshire Glass, watch our entire story unfold below. Scroll down.
The Start
Stuart Wiltshire Glass began back in 2010 under a slightly different name. Back then we were called Freeform Glass. On 26th November 2010 we signed the lease and spent the next 5 months building the studio and more importantly building the furnace.
Open for Business
In April 2011 we opened the studio to the public after 6 months of hard work putting together the studio.
Stuart began doing hand-casts for the local community whilst also doing glassblowing demonstrations to the public.
Experiences Start
In 2012, we did our first glassblowing lesson/experience with Steve Mitchell.
In the years to follow we would become infamous for our glassblowing experiences, with us now having completed well over a 1000 lessons since 2012.
2012: First Commission
2012 continued being the year of firsts, as following the first glassblowing lesson came the first commission piece of work.
The first commission came after meeting with Wendy Cushing - Passementerie, following which our first commission was born, creating Murano Glass Curtain Tie Backs using gold & silver leaf.
125 Wall Street
In 2013 Stuart got a commission to make 600 globes for 13 Chandeliers in 125 Wall Street London, through The Light Lab.
The chandeliers can be seen in 125 Wall Street spanning through several floors as seen in the image.
At this point in the journey we were three years in with the business on the verge of collapse. This commission gave us a life-line and a fresh start.
The fresh start began by changing our name from Freeform Glass to the now widely recognised:
Stuart Wiltshire Glass
Jones Day Law Firm
2014 started nicely with a big commission for a chandelier, this time with Jones Day Law Firm London.
This time Stuart was blowing coloured tubes and engraving every major city in the world on each piece.
2014: Jones Day Law Firm
2015: Taking Off - Bristol Airport
2015 was an amazing year with Stuart completing a lot of commissions.
One of the larger commissions was producing a wave of 600 Blue Bottles for an art display in the departure lounge of Bristol Airport.
Stuart blew every piece by hand in his Weymouth studio.
2015: Giant Hand-blown Shades
A contract in 2015 saw Stuart hand-blowing some extremely large lighting shades, at 600mm height and making 30 a week.
2015: Breguets Bauble
In Christmas 2015, Stuart was commissioned by Breguet Watches to make Christmas Baubles, infused with 24ct Gold.
2015: Dell Christmas Awards
in 2015 Stuart was commissioned to make all of the company awards for Dell Technologies.
2016: Like Father, Like Son
2016 was the year were Josh Wiltshire joined his father in the business and began learning the glassblowing trade.
Josh first began glassblowing after leaving school at 16. He started on an In-House NVQ through Yeovil college where he went on to win NVQ student of the year.
Glenfiddich Whiskey Set
2016 began with a commission for Glenfiddich Whiskey producing 100 sets of Whiskey Glasses.
These glasses were to sit on a Glass Plate which represents rippling water.
All of the glasses looked like water droplets and when they sat on the plate it was to look like a water droplet hitting the water and the waves rippling away.
2016: Duchess of Cornwall
In 2016 Stuart did a glassblowing experience with a lovely couple, who turned out to be the owners of Hall & Woodhouse Brewery.
Following this,Stuart received a phone call from the site manager in charge of building the Duchess of Cornwall Pub on Queen Mother Square in Poundbury.
This conversation led to Stuart being asked to hand-blow an extremely large shade for the entrance of the pub.
Following this, Stuart was invited to the opening of the Pub and got the chance to meet Royalty.
2016: Meeting King Charles & Queen Camilla
At the opening of the Duchess of Cornwall pub, Stuart had the opportunity to meet King Charles and Queen Camilla.
During the opening, everyone who was involved with building the Pub were present with each member getting an opportunity to speak to Royalty.
Queen Camilla's Vortex Sculpture:
Prior to the pub opening, Stuart made a gift for Queen Camilla, which he had the privilege to present to her.
The gift in question was the infamous Vortex Sculpture in Ruby with 24ct Gold.
- Photo Credit: Finnbarr Webster
- Copyright: Duchy of Cornwall
2016: St James's Palace
Following meeting The Royal Family, Stuart was commissioned to remake all of the lanterns around the outside of St James's Palace.
The lanterns around St James's Palace can be seen in the first two photos.
2016: St James's Palace
Following meeting The Royal Family, Stuart was commissioned to remake all of the lanterns around the outside of St James's Palace.
The lanterns around St James's Palace can be seen in the first two photos.
2016: Buckingham Palace
Following the work with St James's Palace, Stuart was again commissioned to remake a wall light from inside Buckingham Palace.
The story goes that one of the cleaners broke a Wall Light outside the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace and Stuart was asked to remake this light.
This was a huge honour and privilege to do so.
2017: Bella Figura
In 2017 Stuart got a contract to make all hand-blown lighting for Bella Figura Lighting London.
These were a very busy few years and took up the majority of Stuart's work up until 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.
Ashes to Glass Keepsakes
In 2022 coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we started producing Ashes to Glass memorials and keepsakes.
This came from being asked to produce a one off memorial with the ashes of a lovely dog.
The reaction from this memorial, allowed Stuart to realise how important and treasured these memorials and keepsakes are in people's lives.
Following this Stuart began developing the Ashes to Glass range as seen on our website.