Humans of Warwick - Steve Williams
Steve Williams
University Glassblower
“I want to pass these skills on, I don't want them to be lost.”
“I always get asked how I got to be a glassblower as it’s such an unusual role. It goes all the way back to when I was at school, I was on study leave for my exams and started looking in the paper for a job, that’s how you used to have to do it in those days. There was an advert for a trainee glassblower.
The two guys who ran the business had been glassblowers at Aston University but started their own business. I was very practical and liked constructing things, so I went along and was taken on. I also had to make the tea and do the sandwich run but it was the best decision I made. I stayed there for 10 years, learning the skills that have got me to where I am now.
I’ve been a glassblower for around 40 years. It really is a unique and rewarding role and I’ve been lucky to have a job that I’ve enjoyed for so long. It’s also quite therapeutic at times.
Everything I make is bespoke, test tubes and common bits of glassware are mass produced, I make the things that you can’t buy off the shelf. If there’s a specific bit of glassware that’s needed for an experiment, something intricate or complex then I’m your man. I’m not perfect, it’s such a volatile material and mistakes do happen! The great thing with that though is I’m always recycling, if I make something and it gets broken, I can mend it. I like to think I’m doing my bit for the planet.
It’s not all scientific-equipment, I’ve made loads of different things over the years. I’ve made some gifts for the late author Terry Pratchett, a glass head housing two brains for the former Minister of Education, cocktail glasses for a Michelin Star restaurant. The most unusual thing I’ve created out of glass would be the internal organs of the human body, including the rib cage, this was showcased at the ‘Think Tank Museum’ in Birmingham. I’ve made various awards and souvenirs for staff and colleagues over the years. Most recently, I made a glass ‘yogi’ holding the University logo (a purple ‘W’) for a mindfulness event on campus. Send me a commission and I’ll see if I can make it!
Theres probably only around 20 university glassblowers up and down the country, so it really is a dying trade, but those skills are still needed. I’d love to be able to pass all my knowledge onto someone younger to keep the traditions alive. It would be a shame to see the art disappear completely, robots and AI wouldn’t be able to replicate what we do here. I doubt whether machinery can sculpt and create some of the detailed intricate pieces that I get commissioned to do!
If you want to know more or have a look at some of the things I’ve made, just let me know. It’d be a pleasure to show you what goes into it, I think you’d be surprised what you can do with glass, and you never know, you could be my next apprentice.”