Walking into Crosby Glass Studio, one will spot a wall with several shelves holding nothing but glass. Several colorful stained glass windows line the walls along with an array of glass-working supplies.
Erin Crosby, the owner of Crosby Glass Studio, began working with glass at a young age after watching his mother create stained glass windows.
“I was amazed that she could shape this otherwise fragile material, and then fasten it all together with lead, creating a window that could conceivably last hundreds of years?! I also found the stained glass windows in our church to be more interesting than the sermons,” Crosby says.
Later on in life, feeling burnt out from his job in corporate sales, Crosby wanted a way to express his creativity. He turned to glass.
He quit his job and became an apprentice at a glass studio in Bellingham. When the owner decided to retire, Crosby purchased and started his own studio.
Crosby performs a variety of different tasks with glass, “From reglazing 100-year-old windows while still in place, to replacing a broken piece of glass, to completely restoring an antique window,” Crosby says.
For Crosby, there is no typical day. Some days he travels to a client’s house to repair or reglaze their windows. Some days he sits down with a pencil and paper and designs projects. Other days, he works in his studio, repairing or creating a leaded glass panel.
“I like fixing old things. I don’t like things going to waste or being thrown away so it’s great when I can repair or restore an older window,” Crosby says.
In addition to fixing older windows, Crosby enjoys designing his own windows. One project stands out in particular. A couple who owned a vacation home in the Cayman Islands wanted a transom window for their retreat. The couple asked Crosby to design a window that represented their relationship with the Cayman Islands, with elements such as the Cayman flag, a sun and a moon, a compass rose, a pirate ship, and a sea monster.
He was able to come up with a design that the couple loved, and successfully packaged and shipped the panel off the Cayman Islands.
“That’s one of the things I enjoy about working on original commissions, I often get to learn the personal stories of the clients I work with, that I then incorporate into the finished piece,” Crosby says.
Crosby wants people to know that there is a local resource for stained and leaded glass. Homes with glass in Bellingham can be serviced to last another 100 years.
He has put in thousands of hours of work over the years and could not be happier.
“I love it when form meets function. I love puzzles, working with my hands, history, repairing broken things… all of these are instrumental to creating and restoring leaded glass,” Crosby says. Bellingham, 360.527.1812, crosbyglass.com
