An investment of Hand made bush glasses with passion of Eco-friendliness.

By Njoroge Kaburo

By sticking to the ancient glass blowing technique, Anselm Croze has
built a reputation for craftsmanship and uniquely blown glass designs.

It's a bumpy exhausting ride to the premises of Kitengela Glass that
borders Nairobi national park. However, when you get to the bushy
location the beauty and the experience of the place charm you that you
forget the uneven and rough tracks prior experienced.

As you get closer, mammoth sculptures dominate the landscape while the
dazzling display of glass mosaic sculptures litters the environment.

A corridor decorated with broken glass leads you to Anselm Kitengela
Hot Glass one of the art studios in the compound. The studio consists
of a 50-foot dome shaped brick “hot-shop”.

Born of a Dutch mother and American father, Anselm Croze grew in an
artistic family that moved to Kenya in late 70s. His mother, Nani
Croze, founded Kitengela Stained Glass, making stained glass for
church windows.

Over the years, Nani’s company specialized in blown glass, dalle ve
verre and mosaic, beads, slumping, cast glass and fusing.

It didn't take long for Anselm to know glass blowing was a craft he
wanted to pursue professionally. He undertook glass blowing
undergraduate degree in Holland and joined the family business upon
his return. But 16 years ago, he started Kitengela Hot Glass,
specializing in blown glass and dalle de verre.

He says the beauty of the medium, the magic and the difficulty of
glass blowing captivated him. Setting up was not easy. Even with the
back drop of Kitengela Hot stain Glass, he struggled to raise start up
capital. He needed to buy furnaces, gas and oil tanks as well as
operating capital.

Luckily Mikko Merikallio, a Finnish friend agreed to design and build
the glass blowing furnaces for him. The furnaces is powered by steam
injected oil a system that takes into account the fact that there are
no municipal utilities like electricity, water or gas in the bush.
Today, the firm has 36 employees five of whom are expert glass
blowers.


The firm has a zero waste policy, which is important given to the
location. It often sources for waste glass from used bottles,
construction and renovation sites and recycles it to make glassware.

Its packaging is from recycled newspapers. “It is our goal to have an
Eco-friendly manufacturing facility.”

It makes a wide range of glasses, goblets, chandeliers, jars, glass
tables, jugs, lampshade, bottles drinking vessel, vases, bowls,
plates, chandeliers, lamp stands, to any other glass objects.

It undertakes architectural projects such as glass walls, make grilles
and large mirrors. The assembly of metal frames for stained glass and
dalle de verre for furniture and sculptures takes place at the
premises too.

One of its recent innovation is embedding lights in chairs, tables
and windows is a technique that transforms them into works of modern
art. Despite rising use of technology, Mr. Croze says he prefers
traditional technique. “I prefer this old fashioned way as it gives
every item a unique identity, a quality that clients value”


The products are sold in domestic market although others are exported.
The firm has put up proprietary shops at the Nakumatt Junction,
Village Market and Westgate Mall in Nairobi.

Learning the skill however takes time. glass blowers have to be
trained regularly to keep up with news styles, techniques and customer
demands. The firm often sends them to Holland for training and also
participates in exhibitions where their work is displayed.

Intense training is necessary because glass blowing is essentially an
art. Besides, once glass is melted it becomes difficult and dangerous
to handle. “It’s alkaline, heavy, extremely hot and eats away the
inside of the furnace so you need very special material and skills to
handle it.”

Making a single item is involving and physically demanding, meaning
production is painstakingly slow. “When we are working on simple items
like goblets, we can make about two hundred in a day,” he explains.
“large items like decorative glass are more sophisticated and we make
about three in a day.”

In December, last year it had a six week waiting list caused partly by
an order to make 700 chandeliers weighing 1.4 tonnes. The chandeliers
are destined for the main foyer of an office building on Waiyaki way.




The process of making blown glass items is complex. Glass has to be
heated to 1100 degrees centigrade before it melts.

Using a long blowing pipe, artisans gather a gob of molten glass from
the furnace and shape it into desired designs. Once an item is
completed, it is gradually cooled, then polished using grinding or
sandblasting techniques.

Mr. Croze’s work is highly sought both by home makers and interior
designers. The steady stream of foreign dignitaries to the studio
illustrates its global appeal. In 2005, the firm hosted the Swedish
king ad queen in a visit sponsored by UNEP. Kofi Annan, the former UN
Secretary General has also visited one of their shops.

Presently, Mr. Croze is concentrating on strengthening management
structures as well as investments in new, smaller furnaces that will
enable use of a wider range of colors. He is also working on a
succession plan.

A hands-on entrepreneur, he says he would like to delegate most of his
responsibilities with a view of grooming a successor. “It is great to
start this kind of business and build it to this scale. My concern now
is ensuring it can survive without me.
They make glass with variety of colors; available in furnace are aqua,
green, blue, champagne pink and amber. However, quite a few transition
colors occur like a blue green, pale green, purple or pale blue.

Pieces of glass ware made and the amount of glass used in a day depend
on the size and complexity of the item. “If its goblets we make over
two hundred but if it's a decorative, large complex ware we make three
a day” Anselm passionately says.

The price of glass ware is dependent on the design and size of the product.
The studio never runs short of activities, they receive daily orders
by clients who range from restaurants to individual. As well as
foreign and domestic guests who stream their studios from time to
time.

In 2005 they hosted Swedish king and queen, a UNEP sponsored visit who
bought elephant mugs. The former UN Secretary General Koffi Annan
during his stay in Kenya bought a glass ware from their shop too.

Glass blowing is an art that Anselm says he loves and the death of his
studio operations is something he wouldn't want to see. “I am trying
to build succession, to make sure the company is viable even without
me.
”He says.
He is also keen to improve middle management to ensure quality
management of every level of his business. Plans to build additional
smaller furnaces to enable use of a wide variety of colors are into
consideration.


Ends....