The State of Glass

Mar 11, 2008
Issue 331

See the attached link on news of the Sale of Steuben Glass
http://www.the-leader.com/homepage/x1438202181

With Thursday announcement that Corning, Inc. will either sell Steuben Glass, or
close it if they can’t find a buyer after losing $30million the past 5 years,
Stephen Gleissner, curator of the Wichita Museum has these comments about
the glass industry in general. (The Wichita Museum has a major collection of
both Carder and modern Steuben.)
How sad. I don’t know what is more shocking: the announcement itself, or the
fact that Steuben has lost 30 mil over the last six years. All the good old glass houses are in big trouble. Baccarat recently laid of a large percentage of its workforce, and
Waterford has been bleeding money for years. None of the prestige houses can
compete with the Eastern European factories. Anyway, I appreciate getting the
news. (Ironically, the Wichita Art museum may have acquired one of the very
last pieces of “art” Steuben made, for we bought the fifth of the edition of five
“Tattoo” vases designed by Kiki Smith). I feel like changing into black

Symposium 2025
Carder Steuben Glass Association
19-20 September 2025
© Carder Steuben Glass Association Inc.